But An Illusion
by Joak Drysso
Summary: The mind controls everything. Naruto slowly learns how to control the mind. Chaos ensues!
1. Chapter 1

But An Illusion

But An Illusion

A Naruto fanfic by

Joak Drysso

Boring Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I don't own my selective references to X/1999. I _do_ own a fashionable pair of pants.

--

The first time he remembered the dream, he made the mistake of mentioning it to old man Hokage. The old man had not answered his question, instead paling and gesturing for him to run off, muttering something that Naruto could barely make out as 'nowhere near old enough' before the stormed away. Ever since that incident, he had made it a point to write the dreams he could remember down in his journal, trying to figure out what it was he was being told, since they all seemed so remarkably similar.

_Dream #3_

_I'm underneath a large sakura tree. Around me are faceless corpses. I see a man standing, smoking a cigarette. He turns and says something, but I can't hear it. The next thing I know, he's dead too, and his cigarette is in my hand. Am I trying to tell myself I want to...smoke?_

_Dream #11_

_Some things are clearer now. As per usual, I'm under the huge sakura tree, and that guy is there. He always looks really cool. He's got a huge trenchcoat, and a scarf, and some awesome sunglasses. The bodies aren't faceless anymore, but they don't look like anyone I know. So much for Yuugao-neechan's "desiring revenge" theory, I think. But the man turns to me, and says "You are the next," and then dies. I still have no idea what he's talking about._

_Dream #27_

_So I had my first conversation with him. It was fairly simple. I asked him why he was bothering me, and he delivered his usual "You are the next" spiel. I am getting really tired of that. He was about to die like he always does, so I asked him "The next what?" And he shrugged. He _shrugged_. Does he even know what he's talking about? I can't even get straight answers in my own dreams!_

_Dream #64_

_So it's been two months since these dreams started lasting long enough for me to remember. Here are the things that I've managed to narrow down as important symbols._

_1: The sakura tree.  
2: Whatever this guy is talking about, it involves me becoming the next when he dies. The next what, I still don't know. Maybe I'm the heir of some kingdom. The closest thing to sakura though, is...well, here. The Leaf.  
3. Recently, I've been noticing that his clothes have the taijitu symbol. I asked about it and Yuugao-neechan told me that it could be a symbol of a lot of things, so that by itself doesn't tell me much.  
4. This dream had a star-shaped symbol made from sakura petals circled by a ring. Yuugao-neechan said it was an inverted pentagram. She said that it's a common symbol in, uh, ahnmeeyohjutsu (whatever that is) and is occasionally used in some genjutsu. I'll ask the old man Hokage today._

"Hey old man!" Sarutobi blanched at the sudden increase in volume. Finishing his analysis of the bill in front of him, he finally signed off on it and set it aside, meshing his fingers together and summoning his patience. "Yes, Naruto?"

"What's, uh, ahnmeeyohjutsu?" The loud-mouthed seven-year old asked.

Sarutobi opened his mouth to answer, only to recall that Yuugao had been reporting in about several questions the child had been asking her lately. This had been one of them, as well as the taijitu. "What do you want to know for?"

"Well, the dreams. I keep seeing the, um, taijitu," he forced his mouth around the weird word, one he had only become acquainted with recently, "and what Yuugao-neechan said was an 'inverted pentagram'." Obviously, that was also a new phrase for him. "She said that it's used a lot in ahnmeeyohjutsu. So what is it?"

Sarutobi sighed. As much as he hated these recurring dreams and what they signified, he had no real reason not to answer the questions being presented to him. "It's onmyoujutsu, or onmyoudo." He took a moment to write the words down and then showed them to Naruto. "It's rooted in the principles of yin and yang, as opposed to our ninjutsu, which is based on the five elements. It's associated with astronomy and divination. Some of the more eccentric ninjas tend to use it with genjutsu, but there's been no recorded effect."

Naruto stared blankly at him, and the third Hokage resisted the urge to plant his forehead in his palm. It was rare that he got to teach anymore. "It tells you about the stars and what's happening in far places." That was about as simple as he could get it. The child nodded. "Gotcha. So why am I dreaming about it? Am I supposed to become an," he paused, trying to remember the word, "astronomy person? Because I am scheduled to be Hokage." That brought a smile to Sarutobi's face. Naruto was determined, if anything.

"Well, we'll see."

"So, old man Hokage, what are my dreams about? Why do I see a bunch of dead people, and then some guy tells me I'm the next, and then he dies too? Lately, I've been getting the feeling that I knew him, and that I killed him." Sarutobi frowned. This was sensitive material, but after several council sessions on the matter, no real consensus had been reached on how to handle it. Many were resolutely opposed to it, in fear of what he might decide to do, but others were drooling at the thought of having such a deadly tool at their disposal.

_Screw it. He deserves to know. I hate the idea of fate mingling with this kid, but it seems like the world isn't ready to let it go._ "Naruto, sit down, you're going to discover a few things you may not be ready for."

The seven-year old frowned, but did as ordered, dragging a chair over and sitting across from the Hokage. The old ninja felt drained, but there was no way to avoid this. "You have a five-month gap in your memory. I ordered it to be placed there."

"Why?" Naruto seemed...remarkably calm about it. Sarutobi wondered at that, but answered anyways. "Because about a year and a half ago, you..." _Now or never, old man._ "You killed someone."

Naruto blinked. "I killed someone." A nod. "Really?" A nod. "Who?"

"We never discovered his name. He was a Kiri-nin who was mortally wounded during an assassination attempt against the Inuzuka clan. He crawled into an alley that you were apparently in at the time. When we arrived, he was dead, and you were covered in his blood."

There was a long silence. Then, Naruto spoke. "This is heavy shit."

"I'm telling you this because you need to know, especially if these dreams are indicative, what you're supposed to become. For several hundred years, there has been a clan of assassins that served to protect the delicate balance of power by taking out people of key influence at pivotal moments. This 'clan' only ever consists of one person, and the title and clan is passed on when someone kills that Assassin."

Naruto leaned back in the chair. He was beginning to piece together the puzzle, and his mind was working. He was quickly coming up on where the old man was, and would soon pass him by.

"This clan is called the Sakurazukamori. They specialize in onmyoujutsu and onmyoudo. If you're having these dreams, then-"

"Holy shit." Naruto interrupted, his eyes wide. "I'm the next, er, Sakurazukawhatever."

--

It was ten o'clock at night, and finally Naruto was beginning to show signs of exhaustion. Fortunately for Sarutobi, it had been a Sunday; when the child finally convinced him that truly serious about this, he had set aside his remaining duties for the day to escort the child to the Konoha Library. The material they contained on onmyoujutsu was incredibly brief, but the Hokage had expected that. His focus, however, had been on educating Naruto in exactly what the beliefs behind the practice were.

"Yin and yang," he had started, "follow four laws. The first is that they are opposing. Temperature, for example. A substance is cold or hot, and that cold and hot are yin and yang respectively. However, they are also complimentary ideals. You cannot have any phenomenon without both yin and yang. They mutually transform. When summer arrives, you have reached the apex of yang, and now it gradually transforms toward its yin counterpart, winter. Last is that they mutually increase and decrease. As yang increases, yin decreases; as yin increases, yang decreases."

Naruto, for once, hadn't look glazed. He had looked directly at Sarutobi, and the Hokage could almost see his synapses firing, making connections and steadily progressing toward a fuller understanding of what he was being told. Doubtless, the examples helped. The elder man had smiled, relishing the fact that the boy was finally taking the schooling seriously, before allowing the child to ask a question.

"What does this have to do with astronomy and…uh…the d-word thing?"

"I'll get there in a bit. You need to understand this first. Yin and yang apply to humans as well. We consist of the body, our yang, and the spirit, our yin. With ninja techniques, we often combine both. Chakra is spirit energy that is expelled to produce physical phenomena. Yin and yang. Onmyoujutsu, specifically the arts practiced by the Sakurazukamori, if the notes passed down from Kage to Kage are correct, work in a slightly different manner.

"Basically, Naruto, as a Sakurazukamori, you can learn how to kill a man by forcing his mind to believe that the body is dead, without needing to touch him at all."

The child had scrunched up his face in confusion. "But his body _isn't_ dead! So wouldn't his mind realize that and just keep going?"

"You underestimate the power the mind has, Naruto. Convince the mind that the body has shut down and it will lock up the body on its own. Or, kill the mind and the body will decay. The Sakurazukamori is feared for these reasons, Naruto. Onmyoujutsu is not genjutsu; it doesn't use chakra, and therefore it can't be dispelled like an effect that uses chakra. Most of us don't know how to counter it. The only saving grace is that using such techniques incurs backlash. The more powerful an onmyou technique, the more dangerous it is to use."

"Wow, really?" The child had frowned. "But old man, I don't really want to kill. I mean, I could obviously become Hokage with this, but…"

The third Hokage had to fight the urge to dance. Most of his worry evaporated instantly. He knew for a fact that the Sakurazukamori influence would lead Naruto to eventually take a life, but that was part of the ninja way. His restraint, even at a young age, was remarkable. "You won't have to worry about that for a while. Like any school, it will take you a long time to get to the techniques that are decidedly lethal. And like any school, they're only lethal if _you_ make them lethal."

The child had frowned pensively, and then nodded. "I'm going to become the greatest ninja ever, and I'll use this to help. But I won't kill _anyone_. I swear."

Sarutobi had felt his heart fracture. _You won't have that choice, Naruto. It's your fate, your duty, until you die._ "I hope so, Naruto."

"So keep talking, old man."

"Very well."

_That_ conversation had taken place seven hours ago. Naruto had taken the books on onmyou and set them off to the side, declaring that he would read them himself and try and puzzle them out. The rest of the time, aside from a brief break for dinner, had been the two of them pouring over historic annals looking for references of the Sakurazukamori's feats and exploits, or Naruto grilling Sarutobi for everything that the elder knew about the nature of illusions and jutsu. The third Hokage was more than happy to answer the questions, since the boy finally seemed to be taking interest in his education. While he doubted that the child would retain most of it, he had no problems answering.

Now, Naruto was asking about registry information. It didn't take Sarutobi long to realize why. He was hunting for any mention of families that he could find mention of in the book. _He really is serious about this. Well, I can't really blame him. He finally has something he can be excited about. The question is whether or not they will take him in. Considering who he is, unless they thought they could use him, most families would turn him away. Still…_

--

Halfway between Konoha and the border of the Rice Field Country, a small enclave gathered. They stood enclosed in a ring, each holding a candle and chanting softly. In the middle of the group stood an elderly woman, staring into a pool of water. Occasionally, her body would tremble, and every time it grew worse, but she maintained a grip on the edge, refused to move. Finally, though, her body broke. The water grew distorted as blood polluted it, and the chanting stopped as various members of the clan rushed forward to assist her.

Dragging her to a prepared bed, they forced water down her throat, and at last she spoke. "The boy has awakened."

Hushed gasps ripped through the assembly. The large, bald man by the bed raised his hand, and all was quiet. "Is that all, Reverend Mother?"

"He seeks training. It has ever been our mission to oppose the Sakurazukamori. It _should_ be in our best interests to avoid training him." There was nodding throughout the assembly. Yes, if the Sakurazukamori should rear his head again, they would lose even more clansmen. One person, a younger girl, interrupted the consensus. "Reverend Mother, you said 'should'. Don't you mean 'is'?"

"Without the Sakurazukamori…our clan would not exist. Without the darkness, there is no light. In order for us to exist, the Sakurazukamori is a necessary evil. He will come here, for I have Seen it. We will not turn him away. For better, or for worse, this boy will receive the training he requires. We shall see to it. The cycle has already begun again; it is too late to interrupt it now." There was muttering.

The girl again spoke. "But surely if we kill him-"

"Then you become the Sakurazukamori. Would you force this clan to kill one of its own? Would you truly be that cruel? This child has a path to walk. We will lead him down it. This is the task that is laid before our clan." The Reverend Mother spoke softly, and the clan slowly began to disperse. Some of the older members remained.

"Reverend Mother, we cannot teach the Sakurazukamori. Too many of our clansmen died against the last one. More will fall to this one." The old woman could not disagree with the logic. Many of the Sumeragi had fallen at the hands of the Sakurazukamori over the ages, and more would follow if the cycle continued. It would seem a prime time to eliminate the Sakurazukamori, but the Reverend Mother had been young when the last had undergone his coronation, and very few others still living had. These were the same questions she had asked, and living as the Reverend Mother gave her the insight to see why exactly her predecessor had answered so.

"Come, and walk with me." Gripping her cane, she lifted herself out of bed and began to hobble in the direction of the forest. The reduced entourage exchanged looks, but followed her. "Sixty years ago, the previous Sakurazukamori was selected. I asked many of the same questions, and I answered just now how _my_ Reverend Mother answered my questions. Without the Sakurazukamori, the Sumeragi would decay and then disappear. No, we need our foe."

"Then…" The girl frowned. "We'll always be fighting?"

"Until neither Sakurazukamori or Sumeragi are needed. When the world obtains unity of opposites." She smiled at the young girl, before looking up at the remaining people. "Make the necessary preparations for a visit from an honored guest. The Sakurazukamori will be staying with us for an indeterminate amount of time." They nodded and began to leave. "And send someone to guide him here. He'll learn of us by name, but he won't know where to find us."

"Who should be sent, Reverend Mother?" One of her attendants asked. She thought about it for a moment. "Send Arisa-chan. She knows the way." With that, she motioned, and all but her favorite attendant departed.

"You wish to ask something, Mitsu-chan?" She croaked out.

"Mitsu-chan" frowned, ran a hand across his shaved head as he contemplated how to phrase his question. He believed in the woman before him fully. She had never led him astray, led them astray, and he doubted she would now. But the notion of bringing one of the most dangerous killers into their home…well, he was concerned. "Are you sure that sending Arisa was the best move to make? If the child is already Sakurazukamori, even without training he's powerful enough to have killed the previous one. If he decides to kill her just because, well, she has no way to defend herself."

"If the child is strong enough to defeat her, then he has no need of onmyoujutsu anyways. Should that happen, assume him to be a true Sakurazukamori. But he has not shown any hostility yet, so we should be receptive. He _is_ young."

"Young by whose account?" The man asked stonily.

"By anyone's. The child is seven."

"…a seven-year old inherited the title of Sakurazukamori?"

"I never saw the specifics of the last one's death. I only felt it. Until today, I didn't have an inkling of who the new assassin was. It was as surprising to me as it is to you, but it is the truth. Now do you see why I chose Arisa?"

"It's still a risk."

"Everything is in this day and age. Go tell her already. She needs to get moving if she wants to be there when the boy sets out."

"He'd leave before discovering where our compound is?"

"He's…not the brightest child."

--

Naruto was out on the town as soon as stores were opening. He had a journey ahead of him, and he needed supplies. Well, he didn't really think he needed them, but the old man had told him to get supplies and provided him with a shopping list. And, well, Naruto needed to spend some of the excess money that the old man's allowance had given him.

His first stop was a clothing store. The owner was relatively ambivalent to Naruto, but Hokage had sent word that he was to have a specific set of clothes prepared for the child when he came by, and Naruto had been told to visit him as early as possible. So when the man presented, with a grudging smile at the boy's sheer exuberance, his new outfit, well, Naruto found it hard to express his thanks, and settled instead for running off to the dressing room to change immediately.

The shopkeeper was not a huge fan of orange, especially not after being faced with the painfully loud jumpsuit that the Kyuubi brat wore. However, he had to admit that as the seven-year old stepped out, when done in moderation it certainly worked. The child now sported a long coat in a matte blue with a spiral insignia in the middle of the back done in orange. Underneath the coat, he wore orange pants, with a white stripe down the outside of each leg; his vest was black, his tools within easy and convenient reach should he need to use them. The man's own personal touch were a set of grips on each hip; two scrolls could be placed on each side, giving him immediate access if he so needed it; the sizes were adjustable to accommodate other objects as well.

The child's praise and thanks was effusive, and the old man actually found himself quite flustered and embarrassed. "Hey, mister. I dunno how long these will last me, and I don't know how long I'll be away. If I pay you, will you make me a new pair every year? Just deliver them to the old man Hokage and he'll get them to me." The phrase _old man Hokage_ nearly had the shopkeeper crying with laughter. In between gasps, he promised the child he would, and then waited for the boy to depart before again laughing at the overly friendly term.

Over the course of the morning, Naruto made several other visits, securing supply enough to last him a week. More than enough for him to make rounds and get to a town if he didn't have any luck. When he loaded his pack, it was a little heavy, but he endured. For the first three steps. At that point, an ANBU agent arrived. Naruto had always been a little bit unsettled by most ANBU; not because they were so deadly and he was afraid that their bias would carry into their work, but because they were so quiet. Silence unnerved him.

"Hokage-sama has requested your presence. If you will hand me your pack, we'll be on our way." The voice was calm and even, and Naruto had no idea who it was; a new member perhaps? He was familiar with most of ANBU, and not being able to identify this one was throwing him off even more. Managing to shrug off his pack, he handed it to the ANBU agent who hefted it, and then took hold of Naruto's hand. Forming the seal for Shunshin with a single hand, he, the pack, and the child disappeared.

Only to reappear outside of the building where Sarutobi's office lay. Handing the child his pack, the ANBU agent opened the door, and motioned for Naruto to enter. Which the short figure did, giving the ANBU figure an odd look. Presently, the agent himself entered and shut the door, finally doffing his mask.

"Ah, Itachi. Thank you for bringing Naruto here to see me." The third Hokage smiled warmly, and Itachi bowed. The girl – no, woman – seated to the side of the desk did not escape his notice, and though he gave no indication of it, he was curious. Moreso when she rose, crossed the room to him, and then adopted a seiza sitting position before pressing her forehead to the floor. "Sakurazukamori-sama, the Sumeragi Clan greets you."

There was a long moment of silence in the room. Itachi stared at the figure bowing before him, then at the third Hokage, and then at Naruto. The genius had heard of the term she addressed him by before in passing, but never in relation to him. Judging by the way that the third Hokage was now proving unable to restrain some measure of mirth, the girl was mistaken.

"Oi. Neechan, _I'm_ the Sakurazukamori." The youth seemed half-irritated, half-amused at the situation, judging by his look. She glanced around the room, noted no indication that the boy was lying. Mortification pressed in on her, and she flushed hotly, immediately scooting over and repeating her introduction. When she felt a hand on her shoulder she tensed, terrified that she had invoked his wrath and her death was imminent. "Hey. Get up. I don't like the bowing thing. Save it for when I _do_ something."

Almost instantly she was on her feet, apologizing profusely. It took Naruto a full minute to get her to quiet down and stop acting like inconveniencing him was the end of the world. Turning to the Hokage, the blond frowned thoughtfully. "I thought that we had no idea where the Sumeragi clan was. Did you find something out or remember something or…?"

"The Reverend Mother sent me. She said that it was better that you come with guidance, to prepare you for the trials ahead. Something about the proper mindset." She started rambling, and when Naruto gave her an odd look she blushed again, and fell silent, fidgeting. He turned his attention back to the Hokage who was by now grinning broadly. "So I suppose I won't be needing the supplies. Do you have what I asked you for?"

"Indeed." The third Hokage reached down, and hefted a bag. Naruto took it, reached inside, and pulled out a carton. The woman frowned. "You're giving a child _cigarettes_? He's the Sakurazukamori, but he's just a kid!"

"Relax, neechan." He flashed the carton at her. Underneath the rather convincing-looking brand, they were clearly labeled: 'CANDY CIGARETTES'. "The guy in my dream looked really cool with all of this stuff, and I'm already cool and now I have a similar outfit, so I must be twice as cool by now." He grinned, and she couldn't help but return the smile in part. He popped open the carton, took out one of the very convincing candy cigarettes, and stuck it in his mouth before pocketing the pack and placing the rest in the bag. Lifting it, he grabbed the bag that carried his books and scrolls, and then smiled at Sarutobi. "I'll be back with some new pranking material, old man. Be ready for it."

The third Hokage smiled warmly. "Do your best, Naruto. This isn't something you can breeze through. It'll take all of the focus and talent you have to succeed. When you return, I expect you to be able to show me a few tricks."

"Of course!" The child grinned. "After all, I'm going to be Hokage. I'll master this stuff and nobody will be able to beat me!"

The two turned to leave, and then Sarutobi called out. "Naruto, could you come here a moment? I have something to give you." The boy turned around, confused, but walked over. Placing a hand on the boy's shoulder, his voice dropped to a whisper. "I wish you only the best of luck. I know that you're going to work your hardest. You'll become strong. So to help you with that…here." He took a scroll that was sitting on his desk and pressed it into the boy's hand. The child looked down at it, and when he looked back up, his eyes were misty. He dove forward, hugged Sarutobi, who was content to chuckle and pat his back. Sometimes, he could shove aside the regret of that day. This was definitely one of those times.

--

It took all of five minutes outside the village in silence for Naruto to crack. The woman was acting antsy, and Naruto had never been patient even for a seven year-old. "Neechan, you never did tell me your name."

She half-jumped in shock, and Naruto shook his head in exasperation. "Uh, um, I'm Sumeragi Arisa. Heiress to the Fifth Branch of the Sumeragi family." Unsteadily, she turned to look at him, and then looked away when she saw him looking at her. "And…you are Sakurazukamori-sama."

"I have a real name. It's Uzu-"

"To me, you are Sakurazukamori-sama." She interrupted, her voice suddenly cold. The child paused in his step, turning his head to look at Arisa again. She walked stiffly, but it was not the same stride. Not a nervous gait, then, but one of barely-concealed hostility. Naruto's hair rose slightly, and two presences inside him boiled. Pressing down the sensations, he responded by placing his arms behind his head. "No, to you, I'm Naruto. Call me Sakurazukamori before I've done anything worth the title and I'll beat you up and force you to call me Naruto."

She stopped dead in the road, and turned to face him. It was the first time the child had really taken an opportunity to look at her. Tall, even for a girl, her initial impression was 'motherly'; bangs of black hair framed her face, while two brown eyes spitted him. He couldn't identify the look on her face. He had seen it in old man Hokage a few times. But he _did_ know that the look almost always preceded bad things. However, she had been rather awkward the entire trip, and it really did irritate him that she never called him anything but his title; especially one that he still knew next to nothing about. So he refused to back down, and instead returned her look with one of his own.

A minute passed in stone cold silence, neither side willing to back down.

In retrospect, Naruto would never be able to determine if he had noticed something or one of his two mental occupants had. All he could figure out was that his right hand had acted on its own, lashing out in five quick, linked movements to trace a pentagram in the air. Arisa, mistaking his actions for an offensive move, was already fishing for ofuda when she felt the spell complete itself. _A barrier?_ Indeed, not half a second later, two kunai struck harmlessly against the symbol.

Pivoting, she hurled five ofuda tags with her right hand, her left poised in front of her chest as she chanted. The tags shimmered, and then began to glow. With each impact, a decent-sized explosion erupted, and Naruto turned to her with some awe. "You know this onmyoujutsu stuff?"

She had pride enough to sniff imperiously at his suggestion. "Of course. I'm an heiress. But our friend isn't quite gone. Follow me, Sakurazukamori-sama!" Even as Naruto protested the name, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. It didn't escape the boy's eyes that a tag fell from her sleeve before adhering itself to the ground. As they ran sideways, Naruto saw the ninja dart from the foliage he'd been using as cover. More kunai sailed over, but Arisa displayed a surprising level of agility in her movements, exhibiting a dancer's grace in the way she moved herself and Naruto through the attacks without so much as a scratch.

Again, as they moved in their elegant circle, Naruto never failed to notice the ofuda that she left. Completing the circle, she turned her back, presenting a most delicious target. Naruto had a _vague_ idea of what she was up to, and elected to say nothing lest her trap fail. Instead, a voice inside Naruto's head pestered him to pay close attention, and he did. The ninja, who was now closing in rapidly while forming seals, was maybe halfway inside the circle when she finished the spell's recitation.

Lightning crackled from the tags, and suddenly arced upward, joining together in the circle. The child stumbled backward, shocked by the suddenness of the spell, and heard her voice even through the crackling electricity. She continued to intone the words of the spell, the constant flow of energy strengthening the barrier formed…and then all hell broke loose inside.

The conjoined orb of energy began to lash out randomly. Entire chunks of earth were torn up as the arcs of lightning weaved to and fro. The ninja was more than a little terrified, and immediately attempted to run back out; he made it three steps before the lightning consumed him. Morbid fascination forced Naruto to watch as the man's body twitched and danced, wreathed in a solid 'beam' of electricity. Arisa's voice stopped, and the spell flickered, and the energy dissipated. Only a charred corpse remained.

Naruto felt sick. He could compartmentalize the fact that he had killed someone; after all, while he had no reason to believe that the old man had lied to him, it was not an experience that he himself could recall. In that sense, he was desensitized to it, as though it had happened to someone else and he had been nowhere nearby. But here, he had just seen someone bathed in lightning, cooking to death while his nerves went insane. 'Too much' could not adequately describe what he had just seen. And he decided to make that known by emptying the contents of his breakfast on the ground.

Arisa stared at him. This was…worrisome. She had been raised on stories of terror. To her, the Sakurazukamori was a being of nightmares, a veritable boogeyman. To see such a person – she had no doubt, not after that barrier – submitting to illness after seeing someone die, well…she was confused. Everything that her upbringing had told her to believe about the Sakurazukamori was being challenged. The boy had probably never been in a serious fight before now. How he had claimed the title then, she couldn't understand.

Hesitantly, she closed the distance between them, knelt, and put her hand on his shoulder. He continued to retch, but the sniffling in between died down. After a few minutes, he shakily rose to his feet, turned to look at her. Nothing was said between them, but she could see it, the gratitude in his eyes. An astonishing amount, really. It took every impulse she had to resist the urge to hug him, and then she just broke and pulled him to her. It was too cruel, she decided. That this child, who could not stand to see a man die, would one day become the world's most feared assassin. No, she wouldn't allow it. She didn't know how she would fight against such an inevitability, but she would.

"Arisa-neechan, I'm fine now." He mumbled softly against her shoulder. She took a moment to wipe at her eyes, which had misted up, and then she released him and rose. Offering him a smile, she received one in return.

"Naruto-sama, I hope your stay with us is long and enjoyable."

"I do too."

--

"Interesting little boy." One of the three remaining Ame-nin commented, watching the two departing figures lazily from the cover of a thick tree. "Normally Ryuusei's kunai skills are top-notch; hard to imagine a brat could have noticed them early enough to dodge, let alone make any kind of defense. But he did, and I don't even know what he used."

"Forget the brat. The girl, man. She manipulated Ryuusei. Completely." The second one spoke up.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you think he left cover? No ninja is so stupid that they would willingly leave cover unless there was a reason to. She wasn't moving directly at him, so he could have used the cover a lot longer, but he made himself an obvious target. Her initial guess wasn't too far off, but not close enough for him to be spooked."

"…" The ninja bit his lip. "Let's go see." The three set off toward the area where Ryuusei had initiated his assault. When they arrived, they split up, and started searching. Less than a minute later, the female of the surviving trio called out, and they hustled over. She gestured to a tree, and it took them a moment to see what she was indicating. A number of kunai, easily identified as belonging to Ryuusei from his unique tags, were embedded in the trunk at erratic intervals. And amongst all of the dotted kunai, a single slip of paper with a pentagram inscribed.

"What is this? What the _hell_ is that girl slinging around? I mean, I thought those were exploding tags she threw. But what if she's storing actual ninjutsu and genjutsu in these things? I mean, we saw her leaving the tags, and then she did…whatever the hell that was to Ryuusei. That isn't normal ninjutsu." The first one shuddered to think of that being directed at him. "They aren't normal, and I don't like that. We should kill them."

The third, the girl, stared at him. "We have a mission to accomplish. We're here for one reason. Ryuusei's death is unfortunate, but it doesn't cripple us. Let's get moving."

"…yeah." He mumbled. He took one last look at the tag on the tree, and started when it was suddenly consumed in fire. "This is too freaky. Leave it to the bigger guns."

The remaining three Ame-nin began to make their way toward Konoha once again.

--

"Are you sure that sending the vessel away was a good idea, Hokage-sama?" Yuugao asked. It irked her to call the child 'the vessel', since he had grown on her in the last two months, but appearances needed to be kept. "While I do not doubt that the Sumeragi would hesitate before violating your request, he is more exposed to enemies, is he not?"

The third Hokage looked at her, and smirked. "Does everyone just assume that in my old age I'm forgetting how vital the child's safety is? Yes, I believe that Naruto is quite safe with the Sumeragi. They make a habit of not being found unless they want to be found. I explained to their messenger everything that they needed to know, including his…condition."

Yuugao's left eyebrow rose. "You told them about the Kyuubi? Was that necessary?" The smile on Sarutobi's face made her feel as though she had made an obvious mistake in logic, and she blushed slightly, her mind forging ahead and trying to figure out what connections she hadn't made.

If Naruto was going to be training in onmyoujutsu, he'd learn the various attacks and defenses involved. But there was more to onmyoujutsu than that. She knew that practitioners had powers of divination, and they could also tamper with spirits and…

Oh.

_Oh._

"I see you're starting to get it." The man behind the desk said with a smile. "Yes, I have every intent of allowing them to train him as best as they can. It wasn't an option we considered. The Sumeragi stayed out of that conflict as a whole. _If_ the techniques he learns there could help him pacify the Kyuubi and get it to work with his system, there's no telling what kind of heights the boy's potential could reach. He could do great things. Amazing things."

He wasn't salivating at the prospect, but the look he had on his face, one of almost certain and savage glee, was one Yuugao knew well. It was the look he constantly wore when he was younger. The guise that had charmed so many soldiers, that had led him to the title of Sandaime Hokage. He was definitely plotting something. And as she saluted and left to go on patrol, she could _swear_ that she heard him begin to cackle.

--

Naruto finally tore his attention away from the scroll the old man had given him before he left. Absorbed in the contents of one of the few real gifts he'd ever been given, he had passed the multiple-hour trek quietly. Well, quietly for Naruto. He looked up, and saw the first signs of a settlement beyond the trees in front of them, standing out against the backdrop of the setting sun. "Is that it, Arisa-neechan?"

"Yes, it is, Naruto-sama. The enclave of the Sumeragi. Our refuge against all that occurs in this world. People never find us unless we want them to. Had you left without one of us guiding you, you may never have found us, Naruto-sama."

"So you were sent to guide me here. At least they're being receptive." He grumbled, and began to start forward. Arisa reached out, grabbed his shoulder, stopping him for a moment, and turning him to face her.

"Prepare yourself, Naruto-sama. Your time here will not be easy at all. Though the Reverend Mother and I will do our best, people will not be…receptive to you. Your line has caused us much trouble over the ages. And on top of that, the training that you undergo will be intense. My understanding is that along with the development of your onmyoujutsu techniques, you will be learning Hakkyokuken, and judging by the scroll you have and the pack, you will be studying other subjects on your own time. I am…worried that you may be overreaching."

"If they hate me, then it's no different than home." Naruto stated simply, blankly. "I don't know why, but they do. If they treat me any better here, it won't be a problem." However, his face brightened immediately afterward. "As for everything else, I'll be fine. For once, I'm actually looking forward to lessons. I'll do my best and make everyone proud."

Arisa smiled down at him, reached down and ruffled his hair. "Then welcome to the next stage of your life, Naruto-sama."

--

"Sakurazukamori-sama," the Reverend Mother intoned. The clan heads and heirs were assembled at the entrance of the enclave, at least three members from each of the twenty families of the Sumeragi Clan. And another forty or so bodyguards, hidden in key locations in case he tried anything funny. However, Arisa noted with more than a little amusement, they were very surprised by the fact that the new Sakurazukamori was a child. _Hardly worth the protection, was it? You'll learn quickly that your fear has no basis._ "The Sumeragi Clan welcomes you to our enclave."

Naruto glanced sidelong at Arisa, who did not look back at him but nodded, and he stepped forward. Clearing his throat, he said the first thing that he could think of. "Don't call me Sakurazukamori until I know what that means. I am…Sakurazuka Naruto, from this moment on. Call me anything but Naruto and I'll beat you up."

There were more than a few outraged noises, and at least two clan heads stepped forward in protest before laughter cut them off. The Reverend Mother laughed in earnest, and the large man just behind her met Naruto's eyes and smirked, nodding. "Good, good. This place needs a little less reverence. Naruto-sama, is it, then? Come, come, I must introduce you to the people of this village. You will learn very quickly who your teachers are, and why they are your teachers. Your lessons will begin tomorrow." She tilted her head and nodded back toward the village.

Naruto started forward, and Arisa matched his stride. The sixty-some people parted, allowing the group of four to pass through. The young blond looked around, confused. The gazes of these people, they were not the cold, critical, hateful stares that he was used to. They were more like Ayame-neechan's. He could feel a lot of curiosity in the looks, and hints of fear. That latter part dismayed him so much that he immediately resolved to change it.

He stepped to the side and marched up to a relatively young man. Almost reflexively, he stepped in front of the two girls near him. But Naruto made no threatening gesture, simply extended his hand. "Give me your hand." When the man again hesitated, Naruto rolled his eyes. "Just give me your hand, mister. I'm not going to tear it off or anything."

Scowling slightly, the man stuck his hand into Naruto's. Though his hand dwarfed the blond's, Naruto smirked and gripped it, and then shook it, much to the man's surprise. Grinning up at him, Naruto spoke the one thing nobody in the assembly but Arisa was prepared to hear. "There. Now we're friends. No more of this crap, all right? You know my name, so what's yours?"

"…" The man stared down at him for a long moment, before the hint of a smile played across his lips. "I'm Sumeragi En, head of the Ninth Branch of the Sumeragi Family. My wife, Nanase, and my daughter, Rin." He stepped aside, and they stepped forward. Nanase smiled and knelt. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sa-my apologies. Naruto-sama." Naruto beamed at her.

The girl, Rin, gave him an appraising look. "You're short."

Naruto's eye twitched. "I'm only seven. And you're not so big yourself."

"Bigger than you."

Such sound logic, Naruto could not defeat.

Soft laughter rippled through the assembly, and Naruto, despite his chagrin, managed a smile. He was glad. The reaction was better than anything he'd ever gotten in Konoha. He was, despite his initial worries, very quickly becoming comfortable. The Reverend Mother, smiling widely at this point, gestured, and he bowed to the members of the Ninth Family in gratitude before departing. Even though the assembly was no longer required, Naruto couldn't help glancing back and noticing that several of them were chatting quite animatedly at the entrance.

"They're good people. They were, however, a little worried about your arrival. That you know so little about your heritage is not surprising, but you have to understand that we are a little confused at how a child managed to kill the last Sakurazukamori and take the title." The large man grinned. "I assume you know that is how the title is passed from person to person."

"Yeah, the old man Hokage told me about that. I don't remember it at all." At their blank stare, he waved his hand. "Listen, I'm just as confused on the whole matter as you are. My understanding is that he was hurt on a mission and was dying near me. I sped up the process, and the old man segmented off that part of my memory. So like I said, I don't remember it."

"…Naruto-sama, you truly are a weird person." Arisa mumbled softly. Though nobody said anything, the sentiment was universally understood, and agreed upon. This kid was just _weird_. Still, he had some element to him that made them like him, regardless. The Reverend Mother cleared her throat. "Now that we have a moment alone, I would like to introduce you to your combat instructor. Sumeragi Mitsuomi. He has passed over the responsibilities as the head of the First Branch in order to attend to me and other official matters, including your instruction." The large, shaved man nodded. "He will be instructing you in the Eight Infinities Palm, Hakkyokuken. He knows several others, but we've agreed that it's the best style suited to your path. Your training with him starts at five-thirty every day."

"I look forward to seeing you progress. Allow me to make one thing clear, however, Naruto-sama. I do not pull punches, I am not forgiving. If you can walk away from my training every day, I have done something wrong." The large man smirked. "If, on the off-chance that you make it through to some level of mastery of Hakkyokuken, we can talk about adding more styles to your regimen. Until then, I will hear no mention of anything else. Understood?" The boy nodded emphatically, and Mitsuomi couldn't help but chuckle.

"Then let us continue moving." The tour progressed, and over the next hour Naruto learned the layout of the enclave, and met several more of the Sumeragi, often leading to the child demanding the handshake and declaring them to be friends. His attitude was endearing, and very quickly those who talked to him were casting off their worries about the newest Sakurazukamori. By the time the tour was almost over, he was struggling to remember some fifty-odd new names. When he asked the Reverend Mother how many there were, she replied, offhandedly, that there were around a thousand.

"And now, you will meet your onmyoujutsu teachers." The old crone smiled.

"Teachers? I'll have more than one?" The boy frowned thoughtfully.

"Yes. For onmyou theory and principles, you will be meeting with me every morning. Be early, Naruto-sama, because I am an early riser and you may find you want more time. Regardless of how much time we have, at eleven o'clock, you will meet with…ah, here she is."

The group turned, and Naruto heard the rather audible reactions from Arisa and Mitsuomi. The woman that approached them could best be described as stunning. Her hair was pulled back into a long ponytail that hung nearly to the small of her back; though Naruto would not notice, or have any reason to notice, until _years_ later, her figure was amazing, and the almost exotic appeal was only emphasized by unusual green eyes. Her gait seemed arrogant, withdrawn, although she seemed to drop it as she approached the group. "Sumeragi Youhei. She will be working with you on practical onmyoujutsu application until five o'clock, allowing a half hour for lunch."

Youhei smiled down at him, and even the child had the grace to blush slightly. She was pretty, even he had to admit. "Naruto-sama. I am Sumeragi Youhei, head of the Second Branch. I hope your talent allows you to live up to your predecessors in ability, and that your gentle heart prevents you from committing the atrocities they have."

The boy could do little but nod, and she knelt down and put a hand on his head. "I don't teach very often, Naruto-sama, but I will not allow your potential to go to waste. Understood?"

"…yeah. I got it." He finally broke through the mental block. "I'll be the best onmyouji the world has ever seen. And then I'll be Hokage for sure." Youhei blinked, then looked up at the Reverend Mother. 'Hokage?' she mouthed.

"Naruto is from Konohagakure no Sato. A ninja-in-training, it would seem, and they've given him to us for safekeeping while he learns how to succeed the previous Sakurazukamori." The elderly woman clarified. "It seems that he's not just content to succeed the Sakurazukamori line and change the meaning, he also wishes to become the Hokage."

Youhei looked at the boy thoughtfully, and then smiled, although it was brittle. "I see. Then sleep well, Naruto-sama, we will begin tomorrow."

"Naruto-sama," Arisa spoke up, "you'll be housed by the-"

"Actually," Youhei interrupted, "if it's not a huge issue, the Second Branch would be honored to have Naruto-sama stay with us for his time here." She smiled coolly at Arisa, who frowned. She felt an urge to keep him away from her, though she couldn't define a reason as to why, and she really had no standing to do so. Even with her status as an heiress, she could not go against the head of a family. But every part of her maternal instinct was suggesting that letting him go was wrong.

"Well, I appreciate the offer, Youhei-sensei," the boy smiled apologetically, "but at least for right now, I'd kind of like to stay with Arisa-neechan."

Arisa stopped, and looked down. _That_ was unexpected. The First Branch had originally offered to take him in, if only because aside from Youhei they were the most potent of the Sumeragi family, and she was going to agree. But he had just explicitly asked permission…"If Naruto-sama desires it, the Fifth Branch would be more than happy to house you."

She could still feel Youhei's calculating gaze, but smiled anyways. "Come, Naruto-sama, we'll help you get set up. With your permission, Youhei-sama, Mitsuomi-sama, Reverend Mother." With no objections, she turned and practically hauled Naruto away, toward the building that contained the Fifth and Fourteenth Branches of the Sumeragi.

--

"So that's the Sakurazukamori, huh? If he's from the ninja village, then that means that the energy I was feeling, that was…" Youhei watched as Naruto said something that made Arisa laugh, and then turned to look at the Reverend Mother for confirmation.

"Kyuubi no Youko. Yes, he is the vessel. He, if the current Hokage is to be believed, has no idea about his heritage. I have no intention of revealing it; it is a job for him to uncover, or for those he is truly close to to reveal it for him. His request, though, is an interesting one. Certainly, if he is anything like his predecessors, he would have seen the possibilities of our techniques interacting with a spirit like the Kyuubi. I believe that is, in part, what convinced him to let the child go. You must notice that much of the child's energy is devoted simply to containing it. It is devouring its host." The Reverend Mother sighed and shook her head.

"Even if we fix the problem of the beast devouring the child, there remains the sizable chance that he will not survive to more than sixteen years of age before the consciousness of the person we know as Naruto is overwhelmed by the Kyuubi and Sakurazukamori. I imagine that before he inherited the Sakurazukamori, he was able to manage the Kyuubi, but with two separate consciousnesses alongside his own…we may never see _Naruto_ use his full potential. Only one of the two monsters that inhabit his mind." The crone exhaled, and a tear escaped her. "It would be such a waste of life."

"Is there nothing we can do?" Mitsuomi asked softly. "Surely, in onmyou or medicine there has to be _something_ that we can do for Naruto-sama. I was never good at onmyoudo, so I can't tell what potential he has in that regard, but I imagine that it is incredible. And I'm certain that under training he will grow to be incredibly powerful. I am terrified to shape that potential knowing that his mind could collapse, that he could be twisted against us so simply."

"There are no readily available techniques for healing such a fractured mind." Youhei answered, looking up at him. "There may be something that we overlooked, and I will investigate as I can. I'm certain that in his time here we can come up with something to help him."

"I hope so. For his sake." The Reverend Mother shook her head. "One way or the other, that child is going to have a hell of a time of it."

--

"Naruto-sama?" Arisa asked, garnering the attention of most of the people sitting at the table. The two families that inhabited the building generally did not eat at the same time, but the new arrival had shifted schedules around enough that most of each family could be treated to the sight of the young onmyouji-in-training devouring food like a vacuum. "May I ask you a question?" She felt the frowns of a few of her relatives, ignored it. The question had been irking her since they had departed from the tour to get him settled in.

"Whassat, Arisa-neechan?" Nomnomnom.

"Why did you decline Youhei-sama's invitation to stay with the Second Branch?" Conversation _stopped_. She had crossed no line. This was news. Delicious, very gossipy news. Was there something about the infamous head of the Second Branch that the new Sakurazukamori didn't like? Was there scandal between their new visitor and Arisa already? They needed to know.

"Oh." He stopped eating for a second, and looked directly at Arisa. "Well. I'm new here. And while Youhei-sensei," several Sumeragi clansmen literally spat out their food at the term, "was nice enough to offer her family's place, I know that you are willing to protect me." He smiled awkwardly. "You already have. Right now, I feel safer here than anywhere in this village."

Arisa flushed slightly, but smiled. "I see. You have nothing to worry about here, Naruto-sama." Dinner resumed, but the thinking continued. Though they restrained themselves, Arisa's parents, the heads of the Fifth Branch, were dancing. Screw the supposed superiority of the Second Branch. The Sakurazukamori felt _safe_ with the Fifth. Oh, they would be taking advantage of this leverage long after Naruto had returned to Konoha.

Dinner ended shortly after, and most of the people retired to their rooms. Naruto followed this trend, but Arisa followed him. Closing the door after herself, she sat and watched with an amused smile as the boy immediately opened one of the scrolls he had brought with him and started to read. Slowly, she began to nod off; she had been woken up in the middle of the night to get ready to go to Konoha and return with the Sakurazukamori. She was low on energy after the lengthy trek and their little confrontation with whoever had attacked them.

The last conscious memory of that night was watching Naruto try the seals, a poof of smoke, and then a grunt of irritation. _Silly boy, you need to sleep or you'll be too tired to do anything tomorrow._

Naruto finally tore his head out of the scroll that contained the information on the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. After some ten attempts of varying degrees of failure, he had finally decided that reading the rest of the scroll might just help. However, the more he read, the more the words turned into funny scribbles. At long last, he finally gave up. Setting it down, he blinked a few times, trying to readjust his eyes, before yawning. "How late is it, anyways?"

That was when he noticed the sleeping form of Arisa. He couldn't help but smile. For some reason, his brain told him to do something, and he couldn't think of a reason why not. Dragging the blanket that had been given to him off the futon, he walked over and laid it across her. Stepping back, he nodded at his handiwork, pleased with himself. Stifling another yawn, he walked back to the futon. His eyes closed, and he was asleep before he had finished falling on top of it.


	2. Chapter 2

But An Illusion

But An Illusion

A Naruto fanfic by

Joak Drysso

Boring Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own a person.

Chapter 2

--

In the two years that Naruto had stayed at the Sumeragi enclave, many things had changed. The obvious concerns of a young child growing up aside, the inhabitants had finally gotten used to the high-energy atmosphere. Even Sumeragi children paled in comparison to the force of nature that was Sakurazuka Naruto. They could never understand how, with all of his classes, he maintained friendly or, at least, non-hostile relationships with almost every member of the enclave, played with their kids, and learned subjects not already on his list from other clansmen. There was simply not enough time in the day for the child, whose schedule kept him moving from whenever he woke up til nine in the night when his Hakkyokuken lessons ended, to do all of it.

They never deduced that it might be ninjutsu. For indeed, after some seven months of struggling with that damnable scroll, taking notes on what worked and what didn't, Naruto finally got it to work. And immediately, he started to use it to do things that he couldn't do while he was in school. The notes had mentioned that the Kage Bunshin divided his chakra into even segments when he split, distributed amongst each clone. He had noted, however, that the well of magical energy that fueled his onmyoujutsu was not split. In short, Naruto couldn't really afford to miss any class taught by his three teachers.

That was what the Kage Bunshin was for. Taking care of everything else he wanted to do while he learned.

Of course, in two years, many things still had not changed.

"Damn!" Naruto yelled.

He still had trouble waking up before nine o'clock without assistance, for example.

Sakurazuka Naruto was currently attempting to eat breakfast, dress himself, and brush his teeth all at once. A pair of raven shikigami, apparently a trait passed down through the Sakurazukamori line, currently beat their wings desperately, trying to hold a bowl of ramen aloft, occasionally tipping it to allow Naruto to work through his meal. He scowled, having missed with his sandal four times, before finally snagging his foot inside of it. Snapping it in, he stood upright and grabbed the bowl, dismissing the two shikigami. Tossing it back, he belched, excused himself – Arisa-neechan had stressed that manners were very important – and then began to furiously brush.

A minute later, he was out of his room, down the hall, out of the house and running across the grounds. The Sumeragi were, by this point, used to it. Several smiled, the rest simply ignored it, but everyone moved with more gusto. After all, it was hard to see such enthusiasm and _not_ feel affected.

Stopping outside of his classroom, where the Reverend Mother awaited, Naruto paused to catch his breath. Forming the now-familiar seal, he whispered. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Poof! Four copies of himself appeared. "All right, the usual drill. Some studying on those other scrolls, help Arisa-neechan with her duties, get the day's shopping list from Aiko-san and take care of it, and go help En-san with his project. After that, free roaming time. Got it?" They saluted, and then departed.

Turning, he paused, then opened the door and stepped into the classroom. The Reverend Mother did not look up from her book, but Naruto knew she was aware of him. He never knew how, but she had instincts that defied her age. So he took up his position in front of her, and pressed his forehead to the ground. It was not out of duty, but genuine respect for this woman, who had given him such a gift in his time here. "All prepared to terrorize the village again, Naruto-sama?" She chuckled. She had been the first to discover how Naruto managed to do so much during the day, but kept it to herself. After all, the various reactions that the clansmen had to it were beyond funny. "Then let's get down to business."

'Business' equaled lessons in the theory and principles of onmyoujutsu, with a few demonstrations here and there. Which equaled absolute bliss for Naruto. Of all of his classes, he enjoyed this the most. Here, he could grapple with problems on a theoretical level, where no time concerns were pressing on him. He could analyze and decide the best course of action to any problem given him if he had the time.

Time was not always something he would have, though, and the Reverend Mother and Youhei both impressed this on him. In the area of split-second decision-making, Naruto generally straddled the fifty-percent marker for correct choices. In the Reverend Mother's lessons, this merely meant that he moved onto the next question with a slightly shaken confidence. In his practical lessons with Youhei, well, there was a row of felled trees that had been nicknamed the "Naruto Row" because he had taken hits he shouldn't have.

Not to say that he disliked Youhei's lessons. Even as he left the Reverend Mother's classroom and spotted En and one of his clones hauling lumber through the center square, he smiled at the thought of his next lesson. He liked Youhei, though at times she could be a bit smothering, physically speaking. Her classes were never boring, and it was thanks to her that he had seen as much growth in his onmyou abilities as he had. He was still nowhere near her, but even she had expressed some surprise in how quickly he grew.

When he arrived at the clearing where Youhei taught, he sighed. She was nowhere to be seen. Which meant it was a game of cat-and-mouse to start. He liked these, but they tended to drain him physically, and he always suffered for it later with Mitsuomi. Still, it certainly gave him a lot of practice with a variety of techniques.

Walking over to the sculpted pond that stood testament to the deliberate clearing, he entwined his fingers, leaving only his two middle fingers extended, and began to chant. The water stilled itself, and then Naruto _Saw_.

Onmyoudo divination was, compared to the kinds of magic one heard about in stories, very limited. It was impossible to see the future, or the past. It could only see the present. The fortunate thing was that it was very, very good at seeing the present. Such as the fact that one Sumeragi Youhei was now sneaking up behind a farseeing Naruto, and he really ought to get out of the Trance before she dunked him.

For a good thirty seconds, Naruto could dimly make out the woman's laughter as he thrashed about under the water. Then the pressure on his neck eased up and he pushed himself out, glowering at the woman as she continued to laugh. "Naruto-sama, you should really learn how to remain aware of yourself when Divining."

His only response was to splash her with water. She took a look at herself, then at him, and then smirked. "Naruto-sama, I didn't know you wanted to get me all wet."

Naruto dunked his head underwater again.

--

Mitsuomi's lesson had been as brutal as usual. 'Dominating' was not a strong enough word to describe the man's combat potential. Naruto was fairly adequate with Hakkyokuken at this point, though neither he nor Mitsuomi would have suggested he was near mastery. Still, the child had expected that as he grew in skill, he might actually take fewer hits in their spars. It was as though every time he found a wellspring of power he previously had never tapped into and channeled it, Mitsuomi would simply step things up again and continue to pound him relentlessly.

Much to Naruto's chagrin, soon after he started the lessons they had become something of a public spectacle. Mitsuomi had never discouraged it, and Naruto never felt particularly bothered by the attention, except when they started betting on how many hits he would take, how many times he would fall down.

He got over that when he arranged a deal with Arisa and Mitsuomi and the three of them split the pot, a decent chunk of money.

Mitsuomi had become something of a counselor for him, as well. Naruto loved the Reverend Mother, but there were some things ('guy things', he had stammered out) that he just couldn't talk to her about. Most of these things actually had to do with weapon forms, and during the warm-up period and early sparring exercises Mitsuomi and he conversed about how to apply Hakkyokuken to ninja weaponry. Results hadn't been very successful, at least thus far, but Naruto was never one to give up until all possibilities were explored, and even a few impossibilities.

Some of those things, though, had caught Mitsuomi off-guard. One time, Naruto had come to him with a very awkward question. "Mitsuomi-sensei," catching the thrown punch and stepping in, rotating the leg from calf to hip to provide power to the driving elbow strike, "why does Youhei-sensei touch me so much?"

The question had caught Mitsuomi so off-guard that he forgot to dodge. Never again would he forget to dodge one of Naruto's attacks. The kid was _strong_.

Other times, it was confidence issues, image problems, the usual things that plagued a young boy, and Mitsuomi had fielded them as easily as he did Naruto's strikes. He doled out answers and pain equally, and Naruto generally left every training session aching but a little wiser.

So it was that the nine-o'clock bell tolled as Naruto was sent flying by a palm strike delivered into his wide-open chest. The Official Sumeragi Adjutant counted, and when Naruto hit the ground and tumbled, he smiled. "Five seconds of airtime. A new record for Mitsuomi-sama!" Laughter sounded as a few went to help Naruto up onto his feet, before letting him stumble over to where his teacher was conversing with a few of the clansmen. Pausing in his conversation, he turned to face Naruto, who grinned up at him.

Mitsuomi smiled in return. If he were ever pressed to admit it, he would confess that he loved the child like a son. His initial impression had been positive, and the child had _very_ quickly began to grow on him. Which was part of why he beat the everliving crap out of him. His job was to forge Naruto such that no physical threat was beyond neutralization. Even Mitsuomi knew it was impossible, but he was not going to half-ass the attempt. "Good job, Naruto-sama. Every day you get a little better. If you keep this up, I may run out of things to teach you soon."

It was an outright lie, and everyone knew it, but the praise inherent was more than enough for Naruto, who bowed and turned to go bother Arisa.

Mitsuomi began to turn back, when he noticed Youhei and the Reverend Mother engaged in what appeared like a rather lively conversation. Excusing himself, he walked over, and managed to catch the tail end of Youhei's retort. "…he'd never forgive himself!"

He cleared his throat, and both women turned to glare at him. Inwardly, he was cowed, but he showed no reaction. "Is there a problem I can mediate here?"

"Maybe _you_ can talk some sense into her." Youhei growled. "She has selected Arisa to Pass Within." Mitsuomi frowned, turned to face the Reverend Mother. "I have no objection with Arisa. She is one of the strongest Diviners, even if her combat ability is somewhat lacking compared to mine. She is well suited for the task. But she…" The twenty-seven year-old woman shook her head, gesturing at the Reverend Mother. "She wants Naruto-sama to perform the Rite."

_That_ floored Mitsuomi. Ever since he had been selected as her retainer, he had prepared himself for the inevitability of the Rite to Pass Within. It was a process by which a member of the Sumeragi clan absorbed the knowledge and experiences of the Reverend Mother, and all that had come before her. However, to Pass Within and become a new Reverend Mother required one to partake of the heart's blood. The previous Reverend Mother had to sacrifice herself, and her retainer was the one that killed her.

No wonder Youhei had been so heated about refusing it. Mitsuomi steeled himself, and then asked. "When is the ceremony to be done?" The look Youhei gave him was one of shock and horror. He hated himself for asking it too, but there was a line he would not cross. Every decision the Reverend Mother made had been beneficial in some way or another.

"You can't be serious! You're going to make him…make him…" Youhei sputtered.

"If the Reverend Mother believes that Naruto-sama stands to gain something from performing the Rite, then it is not ours to question." He hated himself for saying it.

The silence that resulted was long and uncomfortable.

"It will be in three years' time. There are certain things I must put into action first." The Reverend Mother finally spoke up. She, too, knew the terrible effects it would have on Naruto, but this was necessary. "Such as teaching him how to control the Beast Within."

Both Mitsuomi and Youhei were stunned. "You've found a method?" Youhei was the first to ask.

"I believe so, yes. Let us adjourn to my home, and I will explain more." The Reverend Mother whispered. "I need to lay down."

--

"Naruto-sama," Aiko, the wife of the head of the Fifth Branch, spoke, "the Reverend Mother wishes to speak with you." When there was no response, she opened the door, and had to refrain from laughing. An eleven year-old Naruto was currently face-up on the floor, a 'why me' look on his face, his body completely entangled in the intricate robes of the ceremony. It would be his fourth time attending the Festival of the Dove, and he liked to dress up for it along with the rest of the Sumeragi. He just sucked at dressing appropriately by himself.

"Aiko-saan," he whined, "save me from myself!" Now she had to laugh, and entered the room, helping him up. It took her a minute to set the robes straight, and then tie them properly, but at the end he grinned and hugged her. She smiled softly, and hugged him back, and wondered about herself. When he had first arrived, much like most of the village, she had been wary. When he had shown up to live there, she had been nervous, although the declaration that _he_ felt safe amongst _them_ had been so laced with irony. Not that they hadn't gained a lot of political capitol as a result.

Now, though, after four years living there, with him being so rambunctious and yet entirely willing to help everyone regardless of how they thought of him, she had grown to think of him as a son. And it hurt that she knew he would leave one day, and with every passing day it was coming closer. So she took the chances she got to spoil him. Such as his rare days off, like this one. But he had business with the Reverend Mother, and that took precedence.

She let him go, and wiped an errant tear from her eye. "Go on, Naruto-sama. We've still got a few hours before the festival starts. Don't be too late, you hear?"

"I won't! I wouldn't miss this for the world!" The blond yelled, before running off. Aiko chuckled, shook her head, and then moved off to find her other child.

--

"Aiko-san said you wanted to see me, Reverend Mother." Naruto spoke softly, greeting her in his traditional method. The presence of Mitsuomi and Youhei was surprising, but he tried not to let it distract him. Instead, he focused entirely on the Reverend Mother, because something about her was…off today.

"Naruto-sama. Welcome." Now Naruto was certain something was going on. She seemed distracted, almost hesitant to speak to him. He began to chew his lip. Was he being evicted and sent back to Konoha? He didn't want that. Even as he opened his mouth, she uttered one word. "Silence." And he closed his mouth.

"Naruto-sama. You are here today because we have found a solution to a problem you have faced, and we are ready to begin implementing it."

"A problem?"

"A significant amount of your energy is devoted to containing something inside of you that lives at-odds with your body. We have devised a treatment that we believe can align that, that _thing_, even partially, so that less of your energy is consumed by it." Youhei explained softly, fidgeting. She was not a woman that fidgeted. Naruto was becoming increasingly worried.

"So…what's the big deal?"

"You know acupuncture, yes?" Naruto nodded. "We will be using the needles, but the process by which one realigns an alien force to coexist is…painful is a light expression. We want you to be fully aware that if you endure this treatment, it will hurt. A great deal. And even then it may not be successful. But we believe that it can be."

"Do it." He said simply.

"Naruto-sama, please, take a moment and consider…" Youhei tried to interrupt.

"Do it." His tone brooked no argument, and after her mouth worked trying to find a counter, she finally closed it.

"Very well. Remove your clothing and lay down." The Reverend Mother instructed. Naruto looked at her in exasperation, and she was curious enough to ask him. "What?"

"Aiko-san had to help me get into these clothes not even five minutes ago. Do I _really_ have to?"

"Naruto-sama…"

"All right, all right." He grumbled, and undid the sash. He rolled back his shoulders and the robe slid down off of his back, and he shifted a bit uncomfortably under Youhei's (hungry) stare. The combat instructor received a sharp glance from Mitsuomi and she shook her head, regained composure. Then he finished disrobing.

"Oh…oh my." Youhei said.

--

It had been a solid forty-five minutes since he had lain face-down on a prepared mat, and Naruto was getting frustrated. The Reverend Mother and Mitsuomi had just finished probing the primary channels, softly explaining the procedure to him. "After this treatment, you will need to learn to perform each yourself." He could make out Youhei, who was preparing the needles, chanting a spell and infusing each with the properties they'd need for the treatment.

"We are ready." The Reverend Mother announced, and Naruto nodded. Shortly thereafter, he felt the first intrusion. The needle, he knew, was cold. The room, after all, was oddly cool. But when it pressed against his skin and began to sink in, he hissed from the sudden burn. Another, and he winced again, but bore it silently. Seventeen more times, he felt his Du Mai meridian being pierced by needles. He felt the tip of the twentieth, and moaned audibly.

"Naruto-sama, this one will hurt. A great deal. Please, try and bear it."

_No wonder they picked one of the buildings on the edge of the enclave_, Naruto thought dimly, trying to prepare himself for the onslaught of pain.

The needle pierced.

Naruto screamed.

There was no describing the agony he felt. If he had to try, it was like having a broken leg set, but even when Mitsuomi had performed that rather gruesome duty it had not hurt as much as this. His body convulsed, and Mitsuomi had to lunge forward and grapple him back down, resting most of his weight on top of the struggling child.

"Naruto-sama, please, you must calm yourself. There are seven more Extraordinary Pathways we must readjust." The Reverend Mother intoned softly. After a moment, Naruto forced himself to still, though his breathing sped up significantly as he tried to swallow the pain. Mitsuomi felt a pang of regret, but Naruto had agreed to this, and it was in the child's best interest to finish the process.

The Reverend Mother reached for the second set of needles. The process of twenty repeated itself. The twentieth saw Naruto screaming and thrashing again, and it took severe effort from the large man to suppress him again. The third set went far easier, at least for Mitsuomi. Naruto screamed, but this time there was coherency, and his body did not spasm.

"IMUSTNOTFEARFEARISTHEMINDKILLERFEARISTHELITTLEDEATHTHATBRINGSTOTALOBLITERATION!" The boy slammed his head into the mat, grimacing. Mitsuomi glanced at the Reverend Mother, who was looking at the boy in surprise.

"He knows the Litany against fear…?" She shook her head. Better to continue the process quickly. But as she worked, she heard him whispering to himself, forcing his body to under his control. It showed an incredible amount of concentration.

"I will face my fear." Grunt. "I will permit it to pass over me," wince, "and through me." Hiss. "And when it has gone," bark of pain, "I will turn the inner eye to see its path."

The eightieth needle pierced his skin, and his head rose. "WHERETHEFEARHASGONETHEREWILLBENOTHINGONLYIWILLREMAIN!" Thunk. He slammed his head down again.

Youhei set down the final needle, her hands now trembling as she listened to the pained noises and howls coming from Naruto. Unconsciously, she moved closer, reached out and took one of his hands in hers. As the Reverend Mother inserted another needle his head rose, and Youhei gasped. His eyes, she thought, shone with gratitude at her, but also some measure of hatred, as though by offering the hand, she was sapping his strength.

She would never see that look again, but it would be imprinted on her memory forever.

--

Naruto's world was one of pain. Sometime around the hundred-twentieth needle, he had begun to intermittently phase in and out of consciousness. Many times, he thought he saw the visage of a giant red beast, mocking him. "You think you can control my power?" it taunted, its voice hellishly loud in Naruto's ears. "You think you can tame _me_? Foolish human. When you break, I will bring your body back here and kill these simple-minded idiots for their arrogance."

Naruto was about to protest when he felt the spike of pain that indicated that another of the Eight Extraordinary Pathways had been completed. The giant monster even seemed a bit discomforted; its voice no longer carried as much strength as it had before. "Remember, child, you will never make my power yours." And then he returned to consciousness, at once dimly aware that he was beginning to crack bones in Youhei's hand from the strength of his grip.

He looked up at her, and saw nothing in her eyes but devotion and fear – not for herself, he noted, but for him – and forced his hand to relax. He saw her hiss at the loss of pressure and tried to say something, before pain lanced through his body again. "We are almost done, Naruto-sama," she whispered, "just hang on a little longer."

Naruto began in on the litany again, It was all he could do to keep himself from moving. It seemed like an eternity before the final burst of pain ripped through him, and he howled. Yet, even as the pain lingered, he could feel _something_ moving in his body. It was as though it was working faster, more efficiently, than it had before. His breathing slowed.

"Naruto-sama?" The Reverend Mother's voice cut through his reverie, and he blinked away the sudden exhaustion, grunting his awareness. "We'll be removing the needles now. This should hurt significantly less." And indeed, as she and Mitsuomi and Youhei moved about recovering all hundred and sixty needles, Naruto could barely detect them. When the Reverend Mother spoke up, he finally sat up, instinctively reaching for his clothes to cover himself. Youhei and the Reverend Mother respectfully gave him a bit of privacy as Mitsuomi helped him back into the ceremonial robes. At long last, they sat facing each other.

"Do you feel any different, Naruto-sama?" Youhei asked softly, still more than a little uncomfortable after the procedure. It was not, after all, a common thing in the Sumeragi enclave to watch a child undergo such hellish torture.

Naruto frowned, took a few experimental swings of his arms. "Well, when you finished, it felt like my body was doing something differently. I'm not as tired as I was a minute ago. But I don't feel _that_ different."

"It may take a bit of time." The Reverend Mother stated softly. "In the meanwhile, if you feel that you're able, you should attend the festival. Youhei, if you would escort Naruto-sama back to the Fifth Branch?"

"Of course, Reverend Mother. Naruto-sama?"

"…mh. Just a moment." He seemed pensive, and then nodded to himself. "There's something inside me, isn't there?" At the shocked expressions he received, he smiled slightly. "I knew it. After a while, I stopped seeing things that were there. And instead there was this giant…thing. A fiery shadow. And it told me that I would never be able to make its power mine. What _is_ this thing? And why haven't I been told about it?"

There was a minute of uncomfortable silence. Then, at last, the Reverend Mother spoke. "It is something that you must discuss with the ones who sent you here. We are not fit to explain what has happened to you, and why."

"You can't tell me or you won't tell me?" Naruto stared at her. The old crone shrugged.

"A little of both." Her tone was completely even.

"That's not fair! You're keeping things from me that I have a right to know about myself! What the hell is this?!"

"ENOUGH." Mitsuomi roared, and Naruto froze. There were certain lines that one did not cross in Mitsuomi's presence. Using foul language was one of those things.

"…fine." Naruto stood, robotically, giving his teachers an empty look. "I understand. I can make it back by myself, thank you. I am well enough."

"Naruto-sama, we-" Youhei started, but Naruto didn't stay long enough to let her finish. She looked on as he stormed away, and then shook her head. "Reverend Mother, that was-"

"Completely necessary." The elderly woman interrupted. "Naruto-sama must leave this village soon. But he has lived here for a third of his life, and most of his conscious memories are likely of this village. He will be hesitant to leave. I have given him a reason to leave. He wants to know more about himself now that he knows there _is_ more to know. When the Rite to Pass Within is completed, he will have no reason to stay here, and at long last he will go. It was never meant for him to stay here." She sighed, and looked down at her hands.

Mitsuomi had certainly had a harsh job restraining Naruto at first, and if Youhei had made a mistake in blending her spiritual energy with the needles, there was no telling what might have gone wrong with the procedure. But it could be said with no exaggeration that the Reverend Mother had taken on the harshest job herself. Her left hand, that she had used to steady the point of insertion, was severely burnt from eruptions of energy, as were the fingers of her right hand. She fought through the pain, just as he did, with the Litany against fear and the teachings she had learned. A human can resist any pain.

"Mitsu-chan, please bring me some ice. Youhei, keep an eye on him at the festival. If he shows any signs of decay, we need to know immediately." Both of her pupils nodded and excused themselves, and she sighed. "That boy…does he not know it hurts me as much as it hurts him?"

--

Fortunately for the enclave, Naruto did not let the anger that had consumed him as he left endure for long. Even as he approached the porch where Arisa, Aiko, and various others gathered, he was smiling. As he was swarmed by many of his young friends, all vying for attention, his eyes met Arisa's and he grinned. _There's no reason to let crap like that ruin a perfectly good day._ "Who wants to play?" A roar answered him.

Not five minutes after he had started the game, he excused himself, and the children played on, running amok and causing general chaos to the delight and amusement of most of the adults watching. He walked over and joined the group relaxing on the porch, and watched them with a grin. They were his little brothers and sisters. It took off a lot of the edge to see them having such fun.

"Naruto-sama, you won't be playing?" Nanase asked, looking up from a robe she was stitching.

"Nah. I'm saving my energy for tonight." At a few puzzled glances, he smiled, embarrassed. "I sort of, uh, made a lot of promises tonight. If I want to do everything I promised, I need to be at my best."

"_Promises_, Naruto-sama?" Aiko smirked. "I didn't realize you had matured enough to be doing such things. My, my, he's grown up so fast." Half of the group laughed as Naruto blushed and stared down at his feet.

"I-it's nothing like that. Rin asked me to get her five prizes, and Shinichi wanted me to help him with some origami and…you know, stuff like that." He grumbled softly, and the assembly smirked.

"Youhei-san didn't ask you for anything, Naruto-sama?" En asked, with a grin that might best be described as lecherous. Naruto hesitantly nodded. "Oh, I do wonder what she asked for then. A little stress relief? Out in the forest, mayhaps?"

Naruto coughed as Nanase lightly smacked her husband's head. "She, uh, wanted a massage."

There was a long silence as the Sumeragi stared at him, jaws slightly agape. Then, Sumeragi Arata, the heir of the Fourth Branch, spoke the words that every male who had heard him was thinking. "Naruto-sama, you are one lucky son of a bitch."

"If you say so," the youth smiled awkwardly, and then, with a shark's grin, decided to turn the question around. "So how about _you_, Arata? I do hope you're planning to do something nice for Arisa-neechan tonight. A massage yourself? Or maybe a walk to the lake?" The lake was generally considered the romantic reclusive spot for the Sumeragi, and young couples often ran there to be away from prying eyes for hours at a time. Oh, the scandal!

Arata and Arisa both flushed deeply, and Naruto grinned as he realized he _had_ hit on something after all. There were joking 'oohs', and Arata received a fair bit of needling elbows while Aiko tried to find it in herself not to laugh at how red her daughter was getting. "Well, Naruto-sama, we may in fact be doing something like that. But I'm sure it won't be as momentous as yours." _That_ earned him an elbow from Arisa.

"Naruto-sama," the blushing girl smirked. "I do hope you don't forget about _our_ promise." Arata promptly spit out his drink, and Naruto winced. "After all, my night won't be complete until you give it to me." More than a few people spit their drinks out. Everyone knew that the relationship between Arisa and Naruto was familial and not romantic, but the prospect was there in front of them.

"Yeah, yeah," the blond grumbled, feeling he had to work quickly to get the Sumeragi clan's collective minds out of the gutter. "The tree is in my room, I just have to make a few more selective cuts and it'll be done. You can't rush this stuff, Arisa-neechan."

"Naruto-sama has been trimming a bald cypress for Arisa. He promised it to her as a present for the festival about half a year ago and he's been working on it since." Aiko clarified. A collective 'ohhhh' rang, and Arata managed to compose himself again. Arisa gave him a heartless grin, and he grimaced, his _yes dear_ signal of defeat.

"So when is the festival starting?" Naruto wondered aloud.

"What took you so long to ask, Naruto-sama?" Nanase smiled. As if on cue, the streets of the enclave came alive as hundreds of people filled up the booths. Music played, and the children halted their game in favor of the new entertainment. "The festival begins whenever anyone wants it to."

He smiled, she returned it, and as one the group got up and moved into the crowd.

--

It was going on eight o'clock, nearly seven straight hours of nonstop amusement. Naruto had spent the day with his various charges, and even took over two booths to allow their owners to enjoy the festival themselves for a few hours. Naruto was finally taking a break to relax himself, seated inside his room and pondering the cypress in front of him. It was bothering him, that he wasn't sure where to go with it. He _knew_, instinctively, that he was nearly done with the tree, but the final few cuts were eluding him.

He hummed thoughtfully, and reached forward, made an incision, and collected the branch. "Well, that's a part of it."

"Naruto-sama?" The child jumped, startled, and turned to look. Youhei stood in the doorway, smiling. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt, I had no idea you were into bonsai."

"Ehehe…well, I'm not really good at it, but it helps to calm me down. I promised that I'd deliver this tree to Arisa-neechan before the end of the festival, and I need just another few cuts before it's finished. These last ones are kind of hard to determine though." He smiled at her, returned his attention to the tree. He was aware that she had entered his room and closed the door, arranging herself on the floor next to him. But he didn't have to fight to keep his concentration; he had made a _promise_, after all, and he was going to keep it.

For the next hour, there was complete silence as Naruto contemplated his moves, rejecting each in turn. His peace turned into frustration, and finally he growled and set the clippers down. "I can't figure out how to go from here. Everything I can think of, it just seems to ruin the entire design."

He sat, frustrated, pouting, and Youhei couldn't help but smile at his devotion to the girl he considered his sister. "Well, Naruto-sama, if I may suggest…?" He gave her a curious look, but nodded. "Why not act on instinct?"

"But…what if I make a mistake? I want this to be _perfect_ for Arisa-neechan."

"Sometimes, Naruto-sama, perfection is too cold. And I doubt that Arisa-san would mind if it wasn't perfect. She'll love it because it's from you." She watched him contemplate, and scooted herself behind him, leaned in, and took his hands into hers. "Just close your eyes," she brought his hand to the clippers, lifted them up and brought them to the tree, "and go on instinct."

Naruto's face was slightly red from the close contact, but he did as directed, closed his eyes, and entered his meditative state. He could feel the pressure from Youhei reduce itself as she withdrew, could feel his hands moving on their own, and could feel a sense of completion at last. When he opened his eyes, he saw the tree exactly as he had envisioned it, and set the clippers down. A smile worked its way over his face, and when he looked over at Youhei, tears were in his eyes. In a move that surprised her, he jumped at her, burying his face in her stomach. "Youhei-sensei, thank you! Thank you so much!" Just as suddenly as he had approached her, he withdrew. "I need to get this to Arisa-neechan. Youhei-sensei, I'll be right back!"

She barely acknowledged him, a bit surprised at the sudden tackle, and fanned herself when she finally came back to herself.

True to Naruto's word, it was not more than ten minutes before he returned, a huge grin on his face. She smiled up at him, and tilted her head. "Well?"

"She loved it! Just like you said, Youhei-sensei! I can't thank you enough, really." He started to ramble, and she reached up and cupped his face in her hands, cutting him off as he stared at her.

"Naruto-sama, you don't have to thank me. I'm glad that she loved it." She let him go, and then drew herself upright. "I'll see you in two days for your lessons, Naruto-sama." And then she was walking away toward the door, when he suddenly called out to her.

"Youhei-sensei, I did promise something for you, didn't I?"

She turned, smiled. "Naruto-sama, I got to spend a bit of time with you. That's all I wanted."

"But that's not what I promised. I'm a man. I keep my promises." He managed to sound out. He looked up at her, and smiled. "I owe you for your help. And I keep my promises. So, please, let me keep this one too."

She gazed at him, and then chuckled softly. "All right, Naruto-sama. Just this once."

She closed the door again, and Naruto rolled out the futon. "Just go ahead and lay down, Youhei-sensei. Aiko-san says I'm pretty good, so…"

"Does she?" Youhei mused, while undoing the obi that kept her robes cinched shut.

"Uh, Youhei-sensei, I'm not sure that's entirely necessary." The boy averted his gaze, and the woman chuckled before finishing shucking the robe and laying facedown on the futon.

"On the contrary, Naruto-sama, I believe it is _very_ necessary."

After a long moment, Naruto felt brave enough to begin.

Lucky son of a bitch, indeed.

--

"How is the _prana-bindu _training, Naruto-sama?" The Reverend Mother asked. Naruto, now another year older, had finally completed his truncated course on onmyou theory. However, custom and the occasional refresher course brought him to her classroom every morning, and she was always happy to oblige him. Her question was related to a recent branch of training Mitsuomi was putting him through; _prana-bindu_, developing full control over every individual muscle in the body.

The blond lifted his head out of the book he was reading, some trashy romantic drama based in the Third Great Shinobi War. _Icha Icha Conquest_, it was titled. Aiko had given it to him, giggling and stating that in it contained all of the necessary information to make women happy. It had taken him a week to get through half of the book, mostly because he kept setting it down from irritation. _Who writes this trash,_ Naruto mused to himself.

Somewhere in the Tea Country, Jiraiya sneezed, revealing his presence to several women in a hot springs resort.

"It's going well enough, I think. I no longer get tired after doing it for five minutes, so he's been pushing me to ten. He says that the power in every strike is greatly increased, but I don't really feel it." The blond smiled abashedly. "Sometimes I think Mitsuomi-sensei gives me a bit too much praise. But he's already started me adopting the training into Hakkyokuken, along with something else. He never gave me the name of it, but the basic concept, according to Mitsuomi-sensei, is something like 'My mind affects my reality'. He says that when I've completed the training, if I imagine myself in a position related to an opponent, I'll get there through sheer force of will."

The Reverend Mother chuckled. "Mitsu-chan has all sorts of interesting practices. I helped him develop the _prana-bindu_, but he applied it to his martial arts all on his own. Because we Sumeragi believe in the power of the mind, it is only natural that he would apply the same to his technique. And I don't think I've seen him proven wrong yet."

"I hope it won't." The child nodded. "Still, it's pretty fun, if tiring. At least it gives me a reason to see Mitsuomi-sensei outside of showing up now and again to get my ass beat into the ground. This may shock you, but I miss the days when every hour was filled with lessons. Ever since I 'graduated', it's been kind of…boring."

The Reverend Mother chuckled. "Oh, things won't be boring for too long, Naruto-sama. In fact, I imagine you'll be quite busy in a week or two."

"Really?" He finally set the book down, sitting upright to watch her. "What's going to happen?"

"Well. I'll tell you, but you have to promise to keep it a secret until I tell her myself. I've selected Arisa to Pass Within and become the next Reverend Mother. And I'm going to need your help in order to perform the ceremony properly."

"Ah, well. In that case, sure, I'll do my best to help out. Anything for Arisa-neechan!" He exclaimed happily. His enthusiasm was short-lived though, as he sighed and picked up the book, laying back down. "Aiko-san had better be right about this book."

--

Naruto woke up the day of the Rite with a cold feeling in his stomach. He moved through his morning dully, as though something sapped at his strength. He _should_ have felt excited for Arisa, and he was. She was inheriting a great responsibility and he was proud that his surrogate sister had been selected over everyone else to become the new Reverend Mother. But he knew, he could just tell, that by the time the day was over, something terrible would have happened.

"Naruto-sama, do you feel ill?" Aiko asked him at breakfast, and he looked up, managed a smile.

"No, I feel fine. Something just feels off about today."

"Maybe you're just upset that Arisa is receiving attention today instead of you?" She smiled, and Naruto had to laugh. She knew, the entire enclave knew, that Naruto despised any special treatment. Anything that could set him apart, he threw aside. It was how so many had grown to accept the child as part of their families. Doubtless, the legal battle to adopt him would have been a nightmare at best. "Maybe you're just jittery because you'll be assisting in the ceremony. Do you know what your role will be?"

He shook his head. "I just know that I'm supposed to do something for the Reverend Mother, and then pass it on to Arisa-neechan so that she can become the new Reverend Mother. But she hasn't told me what I'm supposed to do exactly. Hopefully it's nothing embarrassing."

"Well, I'm certain that you'll do fine. After all, it's not like anyone will be watching. To my understanding, it's just to be you, Arisa, the Reverend Mother, Youhei-san, and Mitsuomi-san. No one else will be attending. We simply wait until the ceremony is over, and then congratulate Arisa on her new position." Aiko smiled, reached out, and patted Naruto's shoulder. "You will do well, Naruto-sama."

"I hope so." He whispered in return.

At that moment, Mitsuomi appeared, bowing to Aiko, who smiled and greeted him, and addressed Naruto. "The Reverend Mother demands your presence to commence the Rite to Pass Within. Do you, Sakurazuka Naruto, swear to perform the duties of the Rite without failure, regardless of what is asked of you?"

Naruto had been told that the process would be formal. He rearranged himself to face Mitsuomi, and then nodded. "I swear it."

"Good." Mitsuomi smiled tightly, and the cold fear in Naruto's stomach crystallized. Whatever was going on was affecting Mitsuomi as well. "Remember. You have sworn to do as you are commanded. You do not have room to renege on this. Understood?"

"I understand. Are we going, then?" Naruto stood up as Mitsuomi nodded.

"Arisa-sama and the Reverend Mother are ready, and Youhei-san is addressing those in the village about their duties. As soon as we arrive, the ceremony will begin."

"Then let's go. The sooner this is over with, the better."

"…" The man looked pained at the insinuation, and Naruto could feel the dread continuing to rise in him. When Mitsuomi finally realized that he had not answered, he smiled that same tight, grimacing smile. "Yes. Let's go, Naruto-sama."

Naruto bowed to Aiko, excused himself, and left with Mitsuomi. It took a minute before Naruto felt comfortable enough to speak. "What is my role in the ceremony?"

"You are to do whatever the Reverend Mother asks you to do. No questions, just compliance."

"Anyone can do that. Why was I chosen?"

"The Reverend Mother named you. Do you contest her wisdom?"

"…no. Of course not. I'm just worried that I'll make an ass out of myself because I don't know what to do."

"You don't need to worry about that, Naruto-sama. The Rite is simple enough."

"That doesn't make me feel any better."

"Sorry."

They walked in silence, finally nearing the building that would serve as the grounds for the Rite. As Naruto entered, he saw Youhei look up at him, her eyes blurred with tears, and she managed a smile for him, so he gave her a fake one in return. All attempts at consolation failed, because Naruto had no idea what he was consoling for. He just knew that something bad was coming.

"Reverend Mother," Mitsuomi called, "we have arrived."

There was no response for a heartbeat, and then door on the left side of the room slid open. The Reverend Mother, dressed in robes of office for once, hobbled her way over to the futon. She saw Naruto and smiled gently and warmly, and the child could not help but feel better. She always calmed him down. With her around, nothing would go wrong. For the first time and last time that day, he smiled genuinely.

"Naruto-sama," she whispered, though he could hear every word. "You know not your role in this affair, am I correct? You are nervous because you worry that you may make some mistake. Do not worry, your job in this affair is simple. But it is the most important task. You must not fail. If you do, then everything will have been for naught. Do you understand?"

Naruto frowned, but nodded. This was unlike her. "Are you going to tell me what I have to do now?"

"Yes. As you know, this is the Rite to Pass Within. What you don't know is what it means. When a new Reverend Mother is given the Rite, she takes in the essence and memories of all who came before her. And in order for her to take in my essence, I must give it to her…and give up my life."

Naruto felt his stomach twist.

"There is an ancient technique passed down from one Reverend Mother to the next that allows us to imprint everything we are into our blood. It is concentrated most strongly in the heart. When the Rite commences, you will take my life, take my heart's blood, and feed it to Arisa. She will enter a trance, and when she exits it she will have absorbed the essence of all who came before her as the new Reverend Mother."

"…no. No, no, no. You can't ask me to do this." Naruto had already moved to stand, and was backing away. Terror was written on his face, and his eyes were tearing up. In some way, he was already acknowledging it, but he had to try anyways. "I refuse. I can't…I can't kill you. How could you ask me to do something like that?!"

His retreat was very quickly halted. Mitsuomi grasped him, and he struggled, but no matter how hard he fought he could not break free from his mentor's grip.

"Naruto-sama, if there were any other way, I would. If there were anyone else I could ask to do this Rite, I would ask them and spare you this pain. But this serves many purposes at once. You must understand, your presence here means that you have sworn to do as asked. You know that I can compel you to obey against your will, but I would never do that to you." She closed her eyes. "Naruto-sama, consider this the last request from me. Perform this Rite. Only you can."

"…don't ask me to do this…" His voice was soft, barely a whisper, and tears now ran freely down his face. "Please. Don't ask me to do this."

"Naruto-sama. Please, help me."

"…all right." He had known, from the moment that she revealed what his job was, that he would accept. But a part of him was praying fervently that this was just a bad dream. To kill the woman that was a mother to him in all but name for some stupid ritual? There was no way it could really happen. But here he was, preparing to do just that. Because he had known, from the start, that this was the only option he had. That didn't make accepting it any easier. "I'll do it."

"Naruto-sama…thank you." Tears – of gratitude, or of sorrow, he wondered – streamed down her cheeks, and she bowed to him. He was dimly aware of Youhei and Mitsuomi bowing to him as well. He felt ill, and his head was starting to pound. His blood boiled and ran cold at intervals. He was, to put it simply, a mess.

"Please, do whatever is necessary to prepare yourself. I will send for Arisa-sama and we shall begin."

Naruto could not really hear her, but he understood the words anyways. He stared at his own trembling hands, uncomprehending of the words being said around him, but always taking their meaning.

And shortly thereafter, his mind was wrenched from the conscious world, deposite across from a faceless shade. In the far background he could make out an enormous cage that housed _something_…and Naruto could guess what.

"Hey, brat." The shade said. "You seem like you're having a tough time. Want me to help you out?"

Naruto blinked. "Help me out? Help me how?"

"Simple. I take over your body, kill the crone for you. No guilt for you, since I was the one who did it, and you've done what she wanted you to do. And I get to kill someone again. Everyone wins." The shade seemed to shimmer with glee, and Naruto shivered. There was something sinister about it.

"I…I don't know…"

"Come on, kid. You know you don't want to kill her. I'm a professional at this stuff. I won't hesitate, she'll get her wish and we can all move on from here."

Naruto stared at the shade. Then he at last shook his head. "No. I don't trust you…and the Reverend Mother asked _me_ to do this. I can't just pawn this off on someone else."

"Heh…hahaha, hahahahahahaha!" The shade began to laugh in genuine mirth. Naruto recoiled, and the shade began to approach him, kneeling in front of the child. "Kid, you're amusing, I'll give you that. But I will take this body someday. As long as you refrain from becoming me, someday you will break and I will be free at last. As for now, well, the amusement has worn off, and you're starting to irritate me. Be gone."

The shade, before Naruto could say anything else, waved his hand, and Naruto abruptly felt his true vision return. "…to-sama?!" He blinked his eyes a few time, readjusting them, saw Youhei above him, worry etched on her features.

"…m'okay." He grunted, and finally sat himself up. He saw Arisa, who was looking at him with a pensive frown, and managed a false smile to try and ease her worry. "Really, I'm fine, now." He turned to the Reverend Mother, and nodded. "Let's…let's get this over with."

"…very well." She cleared her throat, and when she spoke again, her voice was powerful, almost youthful in its energy. "Sumeragi Arisa. You know that you have been selected as the next Reverend Mother. Are you aware of the duties and responsibilities that will be placed on your shoulder once you have assumed this mantle?"

Arisa sat upright, shook her head to re-center herself, and nodded. "I understand, Reverend Mother."

"Naruto-sama." The child snapped upright, looked at her. "It is time for you to fulfill your duty."

He nodded, his body trembling almost uncontrollably now. He took a moment, and ran through a basic _prana-bindu_ exercise. Almost instantly, his body stilled itself, though his eyes continued to vibrate wildly with terror at what he was to perform. "I understand."

Step after step, taken with leaden feet, he approached the Reverend Mother. He knelt in front of her, and hugged her, receiving one in return. Tears again began to fall. "Are you sure?"

"I have waited a long time for this, Naruto-sama."

He nodded, and then released her from the hug. Arisa, who had been watching, was now certain that something was off. Especially when Naruto raised his right arm and bent the elbow, his fingers arranged in a speartip, ready to punch through the elderly woman.

"Naruto, what are you doing?!" She blurted out. "You can't mean to-"

"This is the Rite to Pass Within, Arisa-sama." Mitsuomi spoke coldly. "You inherit the memories and powers of all of the Reverend Mothers who came before you. In order to precipitate this inheritance, she must give her life and her blood to you. Naruto-sama has been entrusted with the task of making certain that the transfer goes flawlessly."

"But he can't _kill _her! He's just a child!"

"Naruto-sama is the Sakurazukamori. Whether we like it or not, whether he likes it or not, killing is something he will do. At least this death will have meaning." Youhei whispered.

"Naruto, please, listen, you can't!" Arisa tried again, but he didn't seem to hear her.

Indeed, he was too busy watching the Reverend Mother through teary eyes. "You are my mother. I don't want to do this to you."

She smiled. "Naruto-sama, you were like a son to me. But what kind of mother would I be if I did not challenge my son and prepare him for the road ahead of him? Your life was not meant to be spent here. There is so much more that you can and should do. You would wither here, decay here, and we would decay with you. No, you have to leave, and this is one way of making it happen." She touched his forehead, closed her eyes. "You are a bright star, Naruto-sama. Change the world."

"I…I understand." He closed his eyes, choked back a sob. And then he thrust his right hand forward.

Her body spasmed in his arms, but she smiled in bliss. "Naruto-sama…return to Konohagakure no Sato. The questions that so plague you about your ancestry and history, you will find all of your answers there."

He nodded slowly, and as she closed her eyes for the last time, he withdrew his hand, slick with blood. He rose, then turned to Arisa. "Arisa-neechan, don't refuse this. Don't…don't let her sacrifice be in vain. Please."

She could not respond, but for a little nod. Naruto approached her, knelt again, and presented his bloody hand. Hesitantly, she reached forward and licked at the blood coating it. Naruto held deathly still. When she was done, her eyes looked distinctly blank, before her body swayed. Mitsuomi rushed forward, caught her, and then laid her down gently.

Naruto rose mechanically, and turned. He half-walked, half-stomped away, but nobody moved to follow him. The small part of his consciousness that was not in shock was grateful for it. He returned to the place that housed him, returned to his room ignoring all questions, and simply collapsed, surrendering to blessed unconsciousness.

--

It was hours later, as the sun began to set, that Sumeragi Arisa made her way to what was no longer her home. She would reside in the Reverend Mother's abode, as was custom. But she had one errand she needed to run. It bugged her that her family bowed to her, treated her so respectfully, but she knew that it was unavoidable. She smiled, thanked them all, and asked for Naruto.

She entered the room, saw the child laying face-down on the floor, and smiled sadly, before sitting next to him. "Naruto," she started, "I don't know how to thank you enough. I know the sacrifice you made for the both of us, for all of us. She looked upon you as her son, much like I did and do, and always will. I know that you blame yourself, but you shouldn't. She didn't, I don't. You had a role to play. It was the only choice you had.

"I know your life will be difficult. It should never be easy for you to kill, but I know that this more than any other will always linger in your mind. I wish it wouldn't. You did the right thing today, Naruto. And I hope that you always will. I have faith in your kindness. Grow strong, grow wise, and lead your people. That is the kind of person you have the potential to become."

She leaned down, and kissed the top of his head. "I love you, Naruto, like you were my own flesh and blood. So long as you live, please, never forget that." Then, she rose and left.

For five minutes, the room was completely still, and then the body began to stir. Slowly, unsurely, the blond lifted himself up, and then regarded the hands as though it was the first time he had seen them. And, truthfully, it was, through these eyes. He stood himself up, and paced around the room to get control. "Not too bad, kid. Let's go for a walk, shall we?"

The blond left the room, walked down the hall, silently, and then exited the building. "Now, what to do?"

It was then that he spotted Youhei crossing the main square by herself, heading in the direction of her home, and he grinned. "Perfect." He pumped his legs, running after her, and waved, affecting Naruto's mannerisms. "Youhei-sensei!"

The woman started at the sound of the voice, and turned. "Naruto-sama?" As he closed to her, he could make out puffy red eyes, and snorted inwardly. "What are you doing out and about so late? You must be feeling tired."

"I felt like taking a walk." Well, it technically wasn't a lie. "Just to think."

"I see." She responded softly.

"Youhei-sensei, can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course, Naruto-sama. What is it?"

"Well, it's kind of private. If we could…" He motioned toward her house, and she nodded. They walked, making small talk, and at last when they were alone, they sat facing each other. After a moment, though, Youhei fixed him with a penetrating gaze.

"You are not Naruto-sama."

"Sharp woman. No, I'm not. I am…well, I am what you would call the Essence of the Sakurazukamori. Thanks to the event that happened earlier, the kid's mind is currently undergoing some maintenance so that it doesn't fracture. I have to admit, he's resolute. In fact, really, it seems like it's made him stronger than it was before. I don't have too long to stay here before he takes back over, so I'd really like to take the time to sew a little mischief, as it were. Fighting with that beast over the vacancy really took a lot out of me."

"So, Sakurazukamori-sama. What do you have need of me for?" She frowned. He smirked. She was so obviously tense and on-guard, even a twitch would be liable to set her off.

"Well, most of it is because I dislike your obvious lack of respect for me." He raised his hand to forestall any comment, grinning. "You think that I didn't notice? You act like such a slut-puppy around the kid not because you are attracted to _him_, but because you fear _me_. You try to make yourself intimate with him so that you can use that a shield against me. Did you really think that a body could persuade a professional assassin like me? I kill whomever I want, whenever I want. I am not so easily swayed."

She looked downward. "So, now what? Are you here to kill me for insulting you?"

"No, not at all. You see, right now, the beast is much stronger in the kid than I am. If I killed _you_ and the kid woke up and saw that, he would probably break. I wouldn't be able to gain control over the mind. I'm all for killing, but not indiscriminate pillaging." He sniffed imperiously. "I will make my move when I know that I am stronger than the beast. But I _am_ here to punish you for the insult." He watched her shift and squirm, and grinned savagely. "Give me your hands."

Hesitantly, she placed her hands out in front of her. The Sakurazukamori took her right hand, and traced a burning pentagram into the back of it, then repeated the process with the left. "This marks you as the Sakurazukamori's prey." He leaned in. "Sumeragi Youhei," he breathed into her ear, "let's make a bet."

--

Naruto had woken up only two hours ago, but had been busy ever since. He was preparing for his trip back to Konoha. He would leave in the dead of night, when there were no goodbyes to be said. He wanted to be back early in the morning. He had a lot of things he needed to clear up.

At long last, he hefted his pack, and whispered an apology to the clan. As the midnight hour approached, Sakurazuka Naruto left the Sumeragi Enclave with not a word, and never looked back.


	3. Chapter 3

But An Illusion

But An Illusion

A Naruto fanfic by

Joak Drysso

Chapter 3

--

It was maybe half past eight in the morning when Naruto entered Konoha proper. His memories of the place were fragmented at worst, but he was _fairly_ certain that it hadn't always consisted of scattered broken houses and damaged shops. The further he went into the town, the less it seemed in a state of disrepair, but carpenters, and even a few ninjas, if the hitai-ate were any indication, were swarming over buildings and through the village. The child shook his head, continued on. This was not looking good. Had he forgotten the way back? Maybe. He hesitantly asked a villager, and received an affirmation that yes, this was Konohagakure no Sato.

He blanched.

After taking a moment to scout out the village, his memory began to return to him. With a bit more certainty, he made his way toward the Hokage Tower, dancing out of the way of several kids running amok in the streets. He couldn't help but smile, and raised his hand to call out to them, but thought better of it. No, he couldn't just call out to them. He didn't know any of them. He winced, then retracted his hand, and continued walking.

After an uncomfortable five minutes walking through an unfamiliar place filled with people who were too busy to say a word to him, aside from a few who answered a question here and there, he reached his destination, and winced again. Hokage Tower was not broken, but it sure looked battered. Chunks of wall were missing in various points, and scorch marks bore testament to some kind of conflict. With a bit more urgency, Naruto began his trek up.

As he neared the top, where he knew the old man's office would be, he heard the increasingly loud sounds of an argument. And it was not just a few people. There were a _lot_ of people arguing. Naruto gulped silently, reached for the door, and opened it. It did not creak, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He stepped inside and shut the door behind him. Immediately he searched the room for familiar faces.

He couldn't see any. Not even the old man's.

Mild panic began to seize him, but he forced himself to remain calm, and felt himself unclench shortly thereafter. He had to remind himself to work on _prana-bindu_ again when he had the opportunity; he still wasn't exhibiting the control he needed. Even as he calmed though, he felt eyes focus on him. He had not said anything, and judging by the commotion, nobody had paid any heed to his entrance, but…

He scanned the crowd, and finally noticed. A pair of nearly-white eyes stared at him from across the room. The man was fairly tall and wore light colors, with long black hair and expressionless white eyes. It was obvious that the man expected him to back down. Naruto didn't. There was no motion between the two of them until at long last the man looked away, the slight hint of a smile playing across his lips.

Naruto shook his head. _What a weird guy._

Then the door opened again, and whoever opened it didn't pay attention to who happened to be in front of it. The blond felt an impact against his back, heard a startled yelp, and the next thing he knew he was falling forward. Instinct took over, and he shoved his hand down, his index and middle knuckles impacting the ground and rendering him, and the person who had tripped over him, stationary. All conversation stopped with the yelp, and the room turned.

Naruto looked up. The person who was now resting fairly comfortably on his body looked down at him. Purple hair half-blocked his view, but he knew that face. "…Yuugao-neechan?"

"Na…Naruto-kun?" A light breeze wafted through the room as nobody spoke. The ANBU commander, Uzuki Yuugao, was currently being suspended off the floor by the body of a young blond. A rather familiar-looking blond, though many were at a loss to explain why. That name, _Naruto_, had once meant something. Something they didn't like.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Hyuuga Hiashi, the first person to recognize the child, and the first person to stare him down, spoke. "I believe I speak for the council when I say, welcome back." Well, to be frank, no, he didn't, and he was well aware that he was not speaking for the council, but he was a Hyuuga, and there were certain social norms that he followed out of habit. Plus, though he couldn't define it, he felt something about the boy that was piquing his interest.

More than a few gasps of realization followed Hiashi's proclamation. Yuugao had the grace, at least, to finally stand on her own strength, looking down at the child in more than a little surprise. He had been gone for five years, so much had happened recently, she regretted to admit it but she had completely forgotten about the blond.

"Get your facts right." Naruto stated simply. "There isn't anyone named Uzumaku Naruto here." Various comments raced through the assembly. Now that they looked at him, there was no mistaking him. This was Uzumaki Naruto, the village pariah, the seal of Kyuubi. So why was he denying it.

"Don't play games with this council, child." An elderly man spoke. His voice carried the weight of command, and Naruto's blood ran cold with it. That was a voice that he could never forget, not after hearing it so often in the Sandaime's room. He turned to face Danzou, and grinned mercilessly.

"No games. Uzumaki Naruto is no longer on this earth. I," and here he gestured at himself with his thumb, "am Sakurazuka Naruto. The Uzumaki Clan is dead. I am the continuation of the proud Sakurazuka clan."

A hush ran through the chamber as the council digested these words. This child was really claiming to be the heir of the Sakurazuka? Was it true? There was no real way to confirm unless he used onmyoujutsu, but even then, how could this child, who was now nearing thirteen years old, have killed the previous Sakurazukamori when the combined efforts of many of Konoha's elite ninja failed?

Danzou snorted. "The Sakurazuka family name is granted only to members of the Sakurazukamori clan." Several other council members nodded alongside him. Hiashi looked at the boy with a bit of unveiled interest. _Really, if he's who he says he is, then this meeting may be quite fortuitous._ "If you're going to claim that you have inherited the Sakurazuka surname by any legitim-"

Whatever Danzou would have said was cut short by a veritable storm of sakura that began to whirl around the room. Naruto held one petal in between his thumb and index finger gently, holding it up. The council members looked around them in more than a little surprise and consternation. This beast had just gotten even scarier. Now that he had these powers, and worse yet seemed to have some ability to use them, he would move about as he wished, since few knew how to combat such power. It was terrifying for them, and Naruto could practically feel their fears growing exponentially as the storm of sakura continued. He rolled his eyes. _Let the old bastards think what they want._

He failed to notice, however, Danzou's level gaze. The man was trying his best to restrain the downright _evil_ grin that was threatening to spill across his face. He had wanted to use the boy as a weapon all those years ago when he was simply the Kyuubi container. Now he was something more, and that made the prospect all the more enticing. He would have to discuss the necessary political maneuvers with his allies at a later time.

Naruto smiled, but Yuugao saw something underneath the smile that worried her. The illusion slowly died, and the sakura faded into nothingness. "I am Sakurazuka Naruto. I've been away from Konoha for a long time. I'd like to talk to the old man Hokage. As soon as possible, please."

Even Danzou managed to look stricken by the boy's words, and he frowned. Politeness had never been his strong front, but they had never been this quiet. His words had been phrased to get the largest rise out of them, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. He turned to Yuugao, who looked uneasily at the counselors. "I believe that's enough for today. I need to commandeer the office for a little bit."

Their previous discussions almost completely forgotten by the sudden revelation of Naruto's return and heritage, they could do little but nod numbly, and began to file out. The last person out was Hiashi, who looked down at Naruto. "You are certainly something, child. We should meet, I may have a few things to discuss with you."

The boy looked at him, and then shrugged. "We'll see."

Hiashi twitched. "Excuse me?"

"I'm a busy guy. If I have time, we'll see about meeting. Until then, I have nothing to say. Not until I learn what's happened here since I left. Now, if you'll excuse us?" Naruto eyed him levelly, and Hiashi had to give it to the child. He had a knack for igniting irritation and squelching any desire to drag out the confrontation. With a nod, Hiashi left. Naruto waited a moment, and then turned his attention back to Yuugao, who had collapsed into the chair that the old man sat in. "Yuugao-neechan…? What happened to the old man Hokage?"

"Naruto-kun…Sandaime-sama is dead."

"…I'm sorry?" The child spoke, staring at Yuugao. "I could have sworn you just said that the old man is dead."

"He is." The purple-haired ANBU commander managed through a thick throat. "When Konoha was attacked, he gave his life to defend it."

Thunk. Naruto sat on the floor, staring up at her. He said nothing, just stared, and she could not find it in herself to look away from him. Finally, he managed to swallow past whatever it was that prevented him from saying anything, but his question caught her off-guard. "What happened?"

Yuugao blinked. And then sighed to herself. She stood up, walked around the desk, and grabbed a chair from the side of the room (the council never seemed to like to sit down when they held meetings in this room), and brought it over. "Sit, please. This could take a while." He made a grateful noise, and plopped down again, still looking shell-shocked from the announcement.

The elegant woman returned to her seat, and tried to gather herself. "The Chuunin Exams took place about a month ago. Sunagakure no Sato hosted them. Many of the jounin-sensei volunteered their teams, so we were already weak. But we never expected…" she hitched slightly. "An alliance of Sunagakure and Otogakure ninja attacked the village. Officially, we only have confirmation that Otogakure took part in the attack, because every ninja we killed wore an Otogakure hitai-ate. The ones we were about to capture committed suicide by ingesting poison hidden in false teeth.

"Sandaime-sama…" she exhaled slowly. "According to the two members of his personal guard that survived, he fought valiantly until the end, but…"

The sound of splintering wood caught her attention. Naruto stared down at the ground in front of him, his hands clenched so tightly that the armrests of the chair were creaking and beginning to splinter. "Stupid…stupid old man…" _Why_, he screamed to himself, _do I have to lose my family like this?!_ Slowly, he forced every muscle in his body to uncoil itself. It was the most he could do. After a few minutes wherein he exercised his mental control, he finally nodded.

Yuugao swallowed, and continued. "Ever since then, well. We haven't been in very good shape. Our information now largely comes from travelers, because we need to keep most of our operations close to home. We've had no luck finding a new Hokage."

Naruto managed to overcome the remaining inhibition. He would have to grieve for the old man when the time came. Right now, it seemed, there was far more that he needed to know, and if there was anything that his Sumeragi instructors had taught him, it was that information was among the most valuable coin anyone could have. Being aware of a situation gave him avenues to move down. Naruto liked having choices. "Really? I mean, there has to be someone who wants to position."

"Well, you're right. Danzou wants the job." She saw him shudder, and nodded. "Exactly. That's why the counselors are currently trying to deadlock the decision. In the interim, they've established an ANBU triumvirate to lead Konoha. And, much to my distress," she smiled weakly, "I'm one of them. Hey, Naruto, you wanted to be Hokage, right? Want the job?"

His blank look worried her. "No."

So she tried to lighten it up. "I was just joking, Naruto-kun."

And failed. "I wasn't."

She looked at him strangely, and he knew why. He remembered, fuzzily, that he had once cherished and coveted that title. In the intervening time with the Sumeragi, however, he had lost track of it. And now that the old man wasn't going to be able to pass the title on personally…he shook his head. "I have no interest in it." Those words felt so foreign to him, he hardly realized he was saying them, but it rang true. That ambition had been misplaced somewhere. He felt a bit hollower for it.

"Well." She felt sufficiently awkward, enough to attempt to redirect the conversation in a more friendly direction. "We'll need to see about getting you into an Academy Class and…" Naruto shook his head, and Yuugao blinked. "What?"

"Well, not to sound arrogant, but I'm probably a bit beyond Academy." She thought back to the rather impressive display with the sakura, and nodded thoughtfully.

"You're probably right. So here's what we'll do. We have a class that's graduating in a week. I'm going to assign you to the class just to give you a refresher on what is required of you as a _ninja_. Following that, I'll organize a special group to analyze your skills, and we'll see where to go from there. Fair enough?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged half-heartedly. "It couldn't hurt, at least."

"Glad you're being cooperative." She smiled thinly. "If you're interested, class starts in about ten minutes. I'll send a messenger ahead to let Iruka know you're coming."

"Understood." He finally managed to stand himself up, wearily. He turned, and made to leave, when he felt Yuugao hug him from behind. She rested her chin on his head, and for the first time since he had returned to Konoha, he felt like he was home.

"It's good to have you back, Naruto-kun."

"…yeah. I'm happy to see you, Yuugao-neechan."

She released him after a time, and he walked out of the room. After calling in a messenger and dispatching him, she sat down and looked at the paperwork. They needed a new Hokage (that was not Danzou), and they needed one fast. This was _killing_ her ability to spend time helping Hayate recover. With a frustrated sigh, she began to delve into the pile.

--

Naruto looked up at the Academy. It brought back a few awkward memories, but it held no real stigma, not anymore. A few last-minute arrivals dodged around him, and he saw faces that tugged at his memory, but nothing was more conclusive than errant thoughts like 'Oh, she looks familiar' or 'I remember not liking that guy'. So he shook his head, and walked in. After asking where the proper class was, he found himself entering a room to a rather rambunctious lot.

However, most chatter stopped cold when they spotted the new arrival. While exotic clothing was no stranger in Konoha (and especially to this class), and the boy's was on the more conservative end of such dress, he still struck an odd figure with his blue-orange-black getup. He shifted a bit uncomfortably under the collective curious looks of the class, until at last someone, a boy with a loud voice and a white dog sitting on his desk space, called out to him. "Hey, who are you?"

"I'm Sakurazuka Naruto." He responded, nodding his head at the boy. That generated some buzz amongst the class. Was there a boy named Sakurazuka Naruto in their village? Why was he just now joining the Academy if they were going to graduate in a week? However, after half a minute of it, a thud and exclamation of shock caught the attention of everyone in the room. Naruto blinked, tracing the source to a pink-haired girl who pointed at him. "You're Uzumaki Naruto! The loud-mouthed kid that everybody ignored!"

Of course, as soon as she pointed that out, she realized how awkward it sounded. The rest of the class did as well, but soon there was more universal agreement as people began to recognize him from times past. Naruto sighed in frustration. How many times was he going to have to correct this? "No. I'm not Uzumaki Naruto. A long time ago, maybe I was. But my clan is Sakurazuka, not Uzumaki."

"You can't just change your clan like that!" Someone cried out.

"I did."

"No way!" Someone else called out.

"It's true."

"Why'd you do it?" The dog-boy asked.

"Well, because I kinda had to. It's my job to continue this line, and the name is important and all. It's hard to explain." He frowned to himself.

"So why are you just now coming in?" Another girl, this one blonde, spoke up. "I mean, we're only a week from graduation, there's no way you'll be able to catch up."

"Ah, heh, well, I'm getting my evaluation in a little while, but chances are I won't need the Academy. As for why I just came in, well, I've been getting my training and instruction at a special place." That got some 'ooh's. Special places for training? It was the kind of intricate plot that fueled childhood imaginations.

"What did you train in?" The pink-haired girl asked.

"Well…" Naruto frowned. He was not sure whether or not revealing the subjects he had learned would be a good thing, since the Reverend Mother had always warned him that arrogance and showmanship led to weakness and death. Still, he figured, there was no real risk here. "I learned Hakkyokuken and Onmyoujutsu."

Blank stares met him. "I don't know how to explain any better than that." But then something hit him. "Maybe a demonstration will work better." He fished out the same sakura petal he had held earlier, and focused. In his mind, hundreds filled the room, flowing around through a gentle breeze, running amidst the students carelessly, and as soon as he _knew_ that it was so, the illusion came to life.

Most of the students gasped in awe as the cherry blossom petals danced through the air, some reaching out to grasp at them and coming up empty. There were delighted noises until someone cleared their throat and spoke very clearly. "What is going on here?" Umino Iruka demanded.

Naruto's concentration shattered and the sakura faded away, and the boy turned around to look up at the man. "Uh. Nothing, sir."

"Nothing, sir. Cute." He glared down at the child. "Sakurazuka Naruto, I presume. Yes, I received the notification. I don't like it, but there's nothing I can do. Take the seat next to Yamanaka Ino." At this, the blonde girl waved a bit, and Naruto made his way a bit hesitantly. He could feel a pair of eyes on him as he moved that confused him. He traced their gaze, and found two blank white eyes staring at him. They reminded him of the man from earlier, right down to the curious and silent appraisal of him. He shuddered uncomfortably under the gaze, but nodded almost imperceptibly in acknowledgement, receiving one in return.

He managed a gentle smile for Ino, before sitting down and paying attention to Iruka.

That lasted all of ten minutes.

It wasn't so much that Iruka was boring, it was mostly that he was talking about things that Naruto had no idea about. It was easy to imagine that this was simply a refresher course for most of the kids, but Naruto was so far lost that after the ten minutes he tried, he decided to turn his attention to other things. He fished for some paper, and began to scribble on it furiously. Then he slid it to Ino.

_Who's the girl with the white eyes?_

Ino frowned at the paper and glanced sideways at him. Iruka was currently discussing missile trajectory calculation, and Ino, for all of her ability to grasp new jutsu and incredible chakra control, had no head for physics. So she shrugged, and scribbled underneath his question, before sliding the paper back to him.

_Hyuuga Hinata. Now that you mention her, she's been looking over this way a lot. Know why?_

Naruto shook his head. Hyuuga was a name that sounded familiar, but it wasn't something he could pin. He couldn't remember anything to do with them, so he had no idea why. He took the paper and flipped it over, began to doodle to pass the time. After three hours or so, class finally dismissed until the afternoon session. Naruto was among the first out. _Thank _god_, _Naruto thought,_ finally that's over._

--

"Oh, no way! Ichiraku's is still here!" Naruto cried jubilantly, dancing his way through the crowded street. Indeed, the ramen shop seemed to have survived unscathed, a miraculous feat considering the damage dealt to the places on either side of it. Naruto decided it was a blessing from the ramen gods.

Yes. The one concrete memory Naruto retained of Konohagakure no Sato was the location and quality of Ichiraku Ramen.

He ducked into the store, and took a seat right at the bar. "I'll have one of everything!" The man, _Teuchi_, if Naruto recalled correctly, looked up in surprise. And then squinted his eyes at the boy.

"Say, you look familiar. What's your name, son?"

"Sakurazuka Naruto."

Teuchi frowned at him. The name didn't fit the face. Well, the family name didn't. He knew that face, and he remembered the rambunctious child that ate there daily. "…heh. I'll be damned." The man grinned slyly. "My best customer finally returns! Ayame-chan! One of everything!"

"Eh?!" Naruto heard another familiar voice, and sure enough, Ayame popped her head out to catch a glimpse of what party had arrived to order so much. When she saw the blond, she stared at him long enough to recognize him, then literally dropped everything she was carrying, and bull rushed him.

Naruto hardly knew what hit him as the hostess slammed into him. What he could tell was that if she didn't let go soon, he was going to faint from oxygen deprivation, or from intense pain as his bones snapped. He managed to get out a muffled "Hi to you too" into her shoulder before she released him from her iron grip.

He looked up at her, and for the first time (though definitely not the last time), he began to genuinely regret leaving Konoha. She was crying, genuinely crying, and then she was hugging him again. And he realized that, as much as he had enjoyed staying with people that didn't ignore him at the Sumeragi compound, there were people here that he had left behind without a thought.

He reached up and gently hugged her back. "I…I missed you too."

She finally withdrew, and smiled shakily, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'll get right on your order, Naruto-kun. Don't go _anywhere_." He nodded and she retreated, rolling up her sleeves.

"She was worried sick about you when you stopped showing up." Teuchi finally spoke, intently cleaning dishes. "We both were. We know that this city isn't exactly polite at times. So we couldn't help but think…but now here you are." He shook his head. "It was kind of dull after you left. Most of our customers aren't very exciting."

Naruto smiled weakly. "Well, I had somewhere else to be for a long time."

The older man smirked. "Doing something productive I imagine. You don't look as scrawny as you used to."

"Hey!" Naruto scowled, before laughing. "Yeah, I guess I was kinda small. Mitsuomi-sensei said, when I first started training with him, that we needed to take it slow because of my body, but after a year or so I was able to go all-out."

"Well, eating ramen daily, while we appreciate your business and presence, is hardly healthy for a growing body." Teuchi laughed. "It's good that your teacher caught that. I've seen a lot of ninja broken because they tried for too much, too fast." At the questioning look, the man gazed up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Sometimes, after being injured, a ninja will go back to training too soon. Some are fine, but others lose everything. If your body isn't up for what you're trying to do, forcing it to do it anyways can lead to disaster. Know your limits."

Naruto nodded thoughtfully, and then their conversation was interrupted by Ayame, who brought the first bowl out and set it down in front of him. Rather boisterously, the blond child exclaimed "Itadakimasu!" and began to dig into the ramen.

--

"Yamanaka-san, do you have a moment?"

Ino's head snapped up, and she turned to look at the person who had called her. The Hyuuga heiress, one Hyuuga Hinata, waved at her, and while Ino was slightly unhappy at being distracted from lunch, eating alone had never been a hobby of hers. So she waved Hinata over, and the elegant girl approached, taking her seat across from the blonde.

Hinata opened her bento and took a few brief bites before setting it aside and giving Ino a look that the girl had only witnessed a few times before. This look was often followed by intense physical pain as she mercilessly beat the crap out of her opponent. Ino, understandably, blanched at the look.

Nobody had known how or why, but some time ago the shy girl had transformed into the gentle but somewhat stubborn, outgoing kunoichi that Hyuuga Hinata was today.

Hinata smiled and waved it away. "Not to worry, Yamanaka-san, no sparring today. I wanted to ask you if you had any idea where Sakurazuka-san went for lunch?"

Ino let out a silent sigh of relief. "Please, Hinata-chan, no need to be so formal." It was a constant struggle to remind her to remain on a first-name basis, if only because of the mannerisms demanded of her, but one that Ino always had time for. Formality, to her, represented a waste of energy that could be spent getting somewhere. "No, I don't know where Naruto-kun went for lunch, but he said something about ramen."

"I see." Hinata smiled, and then repacked her bento and made to stand up, when Ino's curiosity finally got the better of her.

"Why do you want to know?"

Hinata paused, looking thoughtful. "I am curious about the circumstances of his return. Would you like to join me?"

"Well…all right, sure. I _am_ a little curious too." Ino packed her lunch away as well, and then rose. "Any idea where the ramen places are around here?"

"There are a few, but if I remember him at all, I think I know where to find him."

"Then lead the way!" Ino smiled. It was always fun to explore the town.

--

Naruto was so focused on the ramen in front of him that he failed to notice when the two kunoichi sat down on either side of him. As such, he had no way of knowing what was about to happen to him, and happily went for another mouthful of noodles.

"I thought you were dead."

Naruto somehow managed to spit out the broth but inhale the noodles, thumping on his chest and coughing severely as his throat worked to force them down into his gullet. Ino and Hinata sat bashfully as most of the crowd at Ichiraku Ramen stared at the spectacle, until Naruto finally managed to breathe again. He turned to Hinata with an incredulous look. "Is that how you _always_ start conversations?"

Ino had to admit, Hinata's choice of opening was more than a little unorthodox, especially for someone normally so insistent on tradition, but now that it had been said, she was even _more_ curious, since they seemed to have some history.

Finally regaining some measure of composure, Hinata smiled. "My apologies, Sakurazuka-sa-"

"Naruto." He interrupted.

"…Naruto-san. I didn't mean to startle you, but you gave _me_ something of a scare when you showed up. I thought you were dead."

After a moment in which Naruto devoured the remains of his third bowl of ramen, he set the bowl down and turned to look at her inquisitively. "Why did you think I was dead?"

Hinata glanced at the bar, showing the first sign of demureness Ino had seen in a while from her. "When we were young, everyone would always ignore you. But no matter how much they ignored you, or discouraged you, you would always try your best. In this city, to me, you were the only thing of note."

Naruto flushed slightly, but said nothing, keeping his eyes on Hinata's, which were now looking back at him directly. "I admired who you were. I wanted to be like you. When you disappeared, at first I thought you had maybe just given up, and I thought I would still see you around, just not like before. When you never showed up after months, and then years, I…well, I thought you were dead."

Ino leaned over. "Yeah, I remember wondering where the obnoxious, loud-mouthed idiot had gone. But after a while, I kinda forgot about you." At Hinata's slightly horrified look and Naruto's irritated glare, she shrugged helplessly. "I was young and you were annoying. The sooner I could get rid of irritations, the better."

Then she paled. "Oh no, I sound like Shikamaru."

At that, Hinata had to stifle a giggle, while Naruto, still a bit insulted and confused at the reference, mumbled something and poked around at the fourth bowl. "In _any_ case," Naruto ground out, "is there any reason that you had to bring it up? You know I'm not dead, so…"

Hinata looked stricken, and Ino was beginning to understand why. The heiress looked at Naruto. "When I realized that you were gone, I had to change myself. I picked up the torch I thought you had dropped. I became who I am today because I thought that you were dead. Forgive me for this sounding a little awkward, but I built myself around the notion that you had died."

"So you wish I was dead?" He responded.

"No!" She cried emphatically. "Never! But, well, you're here. And if I can't be who I was, then who do I have to become now?"

Naruto exhaled slowly. "Look. You can stay who you are. I'm not who I was five years ago. And you aren't who you were five years ago. Can't we just say we've grown up a bit and let it go at that?"

Hinata frowned. The boy she had once measured herself against had finally returned, but now he was on some other kind of scale, or a different unit of measurement entirely. What would it take to catch up with him? "No, we can't."

"Are we going to have to fight?" The boy asked. He sounded less than enthusiastic.

"Not unless you want to." Hinata said quietly. "But I can't just let this go. Naruto-san, I…I _need_ to know how far I've come."

"So what do you have in mind?"

"I don't know. But when I find something, I'll let you know." She smiled awkwardly. "I'm sorry to have burdened you with this on your first day back."

Naruto waved her concern away. "It's been a long day for me, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Don't worry about it."

"But…"

"Look, let me explain it this way. If I can help you in any way, I will. I've always been like that, and I probably always will be. But I don't help people who refuse to help themselves. You decided you wanted to change, and I am kinda flattered that you chose me of all people to model yourself after, but you are your own person. I'll help you find out who you are."

"Naruto-kun…" Ino breathed. She was more than a little surprised at the blond, and how he was handling the situation.

"In any event, I'm still hungry. If you two don't mind, I'd like to finish my lunch before class starts again."

_Well,_ Ino thought as Hinata blinked at his rather sudden dismissal of their conversation, _at least he doesn't fool around._

--

Konoha slept peacefully into the morning. The early risers awoke and set about their daily business, careful not to rouse those who did not share their sleeping schedule.

At seven in the morning, most of Konoha woke up. Not because they of them wanted to, oh no.

That house that had remained silent for five years, that had once been the lair of the demon child, suddenly sang. A swing guitar riff, followed by brass staccato, erupted from the house with such fury that the windows shuddered, and the neighbors shot upright in bed.

Slowly, Naruto stirred as the music played on, reaching over and fumbling with his nightstand. When his hand met nothing, he scowled, then sat upright and glared at the record player, the song now in full gear as brass truly joined in the swing. Swinging his legs out of bed, he stumbled over to the record player and switched it off. Wearily he looked back at the bed, and then sighed and trudged over to his bathroom to shower and begin the day.

He had just gotten out of the shower when he first heard the knocks on his door. Naruto ignored it for a moment, going to dress himself when the knocks increased in force and frequency. Now worried that his door was about to be broken down, he knotted the towel at his side and walked to the door, then opened it.

Several unhappy and sleepy villagers saw the twelve year-old blond standing half-naked in the doorway with an irritated expression on his face and immediately blanked. Half with fear, half with curiosity. Here was a specimen most of them had either forgotten or believed dead (with varying degrees of glee). To see him suddenly returned was startling to say the least.

The crowd shifted aside as one determined individual made their way forward, and Naruto blinked in surprise when Ino parted the sea of people, rage on her face. She finally made it to the front, her mouth opened and ready to yell at whoever had interrupted her sleep when she saw Naruto as well.

"Ino-san?"

"Naruto-kun? That was your racket?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry?"

_Thwack_. Her fist met his skull and he winced. The crowd sighed and began to depart, though many hung back in small groups to discuss the return of the Kyuubi vessel, occasionally throwing dark glances at the house. Naruto stood there as Ino ranted about how she needed her sleep and that it was incredibly rude to interrupt that time for her, before he finally managed to interrupt. "Ino-san, can I get dressed before you continue? The knot is starting to come loose."

Finally the blonde girl managed to process the fact that she was yelling at a freshly-showered, towel-wearing boy and her face flushed a magnificent red. "Er, yeah."

"Come on in, it'll only take me a moment." He gestured, and hesitantly she stepped into his house and shut the door. Her head was full of odd fantasies. This was just like those trashy stories that she stole from her mom to read. He was mostly naked and inviting her into his house. Soon he would take her on the bed or in the kitchen or any number of places and…

"Ino-san? Earth to Ino-san." Her gaze refocused to find Naruto, now properly dressed, waving his hand in front of her face.

Ino jumped back, and shook her head to clear it of the remaining cobwebs from her fantasies. She looked over him, at the white silk shirt and khaki pants he wore, and quirked a brow. "You know how to dress yourself decently. Are you gay?"

Naruto facepalmed. "No, I just like to look nice. Clothes don't make the man, but they certainly don't hurt him."

She turned from him and immediately realized that despite his semi-groomed appearance, he was beyond messy. "Did you not clean up before you left?"

The boy turned and faced the room, with scattered scrolls and empty, broth-stained bowls, and a number of ofuda he had yet to finish inscribing littered about. "They cleaned my house sometime after I left."

"Then this is all from yesterday?" She paled when she saw Naruto nod. "How can you live like this? This is beyond messy! This is a nightmare! Hurricane Naruto!"

The child coughed, more than a little embarrassed, but said nothing as she began to filter through things. "Scroll, bowl, scroll, I don't even want to know what this is, and…hey, what _are_ these things anyways?" She held up the paper strip with a half-completed pentagram.

Taking it from her, Naruto smiled at it fondly, and then traced the star with his index finger, completing the pentagram on it. Holding it up, he grinned. "This is my ability. Onmyoujutsu. These pieces of paper are ofuda."

"Oh, so kinda like tags. Do they explode?" She tilted her head.

"They can. But they can also do a lot of things. For instance…" He turned his had so that the ofuda lay resting on his palm, faced up toward the ceiling. He willed it, and the paper warped, bent, and suddenly animated. A black raven formed, and rested in Naruto's hand, looking at Ino, who squealed.

"Is that a summoned beast? You must be amazing to have one already!"

"Not quite. I don't know how summoning contracts really work, but these are my own creation. They're shikigami, paper servants whose existence is bound to me." He dismissed the raven, the shikigami distorting itself back into the original ofuda, which Naruto snagged and placed in his sleeve.

"So they're not real summons?" Ino pouted. "And here I thought you were cool."

"Hey!" Naruto protested, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'll have you know I am _awesome_."

"Hmph, whatever." She sniffed imperiously and returned to rummaging through the mess that was Naruto's living room. "So you said that they're not summons, they're shikigami. And you use, what was it, onmyoujutsu? So what does that fall under? Ninjutsu, genjutsu? I mean, the sakura thing you showed yesterday had to be an illusion, right?"

Naruto nodded. "It's an illusion, but I don't really know if what I do falls under ninjutsu or genjutsu."

Ino paused in her work, turning to give him an odd look. "What do you mean by that?"

He frowned, placing a fist under his chin. "It's hard to explain. The closest I've come to being able to analyze the differences is that my onmyoujutsu requires a different power source than chakra." He hummed thoughtfully. "I imagine that with the difference in power source there might be other complications, but for all of my combat practice, I've only ever fought another onmyouji. I have no idea how it works on anyone else."

"So you're cheating, basically."

He paused. "Huh?"

"Well, you're using something completely different. Bloodline limits and clan abilities are sometimes considered unfair abilities, but they still follow the same rules that most of our techniques do. You work on a completely different system. Ergo, you're cheating."

"I…never really thought about it that way."

She 'hmph'ed to herself. "Of course not. I don't like it, not one bit."

Naruto shook his head. "Well, sorry, but it's kind of something that I was trained in. If you really expect me to not use it, you're crazy."

"I figured." She said sourly. "I just don't like it. But we're ninja, and we have to use everything at our disposal to win."

Naruto nodded, then glanced at the clock. It'd be another two hours before class started. "So, Ino-san, since we have time, would you, er, help me tidy up a bit?"

The blonde girl glared at him. "Do I look like your maid?"

_Eep!_ Naruto gulped. "No?"

"Good." She nodded. "But because you asked, I'll help you. But just this once."

Smiling with relief, Naruto joined her in milling through the objects that littered his living room, eager to get to know this girl who was very quickly becoming his first real friend in Konohagakure.

--

The week passed fairly quickly outside of class, but inside time seemed to slow to a crawl. Even though almost all of the lessons were last-minute refresher courses, they were mostly over things that Naruto had no clue about, with the exception of most of the history lessons. Naruto had, during his stay with the Sumeragi, stumbled upon a few volumes of classical texts and history books and, eager as he had been for things to do at all times of the day with his Kage Bunshin, read them all inside a week.

The end result was that he knew a lot of the history of the Elemental Countries, and a good bit of contextual history (though his understanding was occasionally flawed because of an inability to really grasp what some of the more complicated prose was saying). He had surprised the class by occasionally raising his hand during the lectures to ask for clarification here or mention a conflicting point of view there, prompting a brief discourse on Iruka's part to explain the differences.

Ino had asked him about it one day after class. "You seem to know a lot of this stuff. Why'd you ever research boring stuff like that?"

Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "Well, at the time I never really gave much thought to why I needed to know about it. It just sounded interesting. I may never need the information, but then, maybe I will, and that could be the difference between life and death someday."

"You think a history question will save you from getting killed?" Ino deadpanned.

"Well…you never know." He shrugged.

"Naruto-kun, you are _weird_."

He had laughed, and then they had gone their separate ways.

Now, though, the class was silent and the tension was palpable. The test results were going to be announced, and individual team assignments were being handed out and the teams were meeting with their jounin sensei. Even Inuzuka Kiba, who Naruto had quickly learned was the loudmouth of the class, was quiet, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. The clock ticked 9:30 and the door opened shortly thereafter, and Iruka entered the room.

Dead silence met him, and he smiled softly. "I know that this is a tough day. But everyone here has graduated." A lot of relieved sighs met this announcement. "So that means that now, I will break you all into your genin teams, and tell you who your instructors will be."

And so he began to call out names, and the groups gravitated toward each other. When Ino's team was announced as the second generation of the legendary team-up, Ino exhaled visibly, and Naruto smiled encouragingly.

"Team Seven will consist of Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba, and Haruno Sakura."

"YES!" The exultant pink-haired girl cheered, punching the air. "Beat that, Yamanaka!"

Ino rolled her eyes, and Naruto resolved to ask her about that later. He decided to finally pay a bit of attention. Kiba he already knew, having found a small measure of kinship in the animalistic boy, but the other two he had never really bothered getting close to. He had been instructed by Yuugao that he would observe Team Seven until it was time for his assessment, which was determined to be that evening.

He looked Sakura over, then Sasuke, and shrugged mentally. They seemed fairly balanced. He knew that Kiba's grades were bottom-barrel, just barely scraping the minimum needed to graduate, whereas Sasuke and Sakura were supposed to both be exemplary students in varying ways. He'd find out sooner or later.

So the list continued, and when that was done, several jounin filed in to take their teams away. Naruto waved a goodbye to Ino as she left with Chouji and Shikamaru, leaning back on the hind legs of his chair, arms behind his back, whistling.

Two hours passed before the stalemate between the four remaining students was broken. "So, Naruto," Sakura started, "why are you staying here?"

He stopped whistling, and turned his head to look at her. "I was assigned by the head of the council to stay with Team Seven for the day, until my assessment."

"Assessment?" She frowned.

"Yeah. Since I don't know a lot about ninjutsu and genjutsu and all of this stuff, but I know alternatives, they want to see where I belong. So I'm really just here to kill time."

"Tch. Like you could really do much of anything." That was, truthfully, the first time Naruto heard the Uchiha prodigy say anything. "If you don't know the fundamentals of ninjutsu and genjutsu, you can't be a good ninja."

"Well, I suppose that's probably true, in the strictest sense of the word ninja." Naruto conceded. "But I don't fit that frame of reference, so using the strict sense of a ninja is probably a bad idea in my case."

"Hmph." The Uchiha stared at him for a minute and then rolled his eyes and looked away. Naruto sighed in exasperation and glanced at the clock. "Whoever your jounin is, he kind of fails at time."

As though those were summoning words, the door to the classroom opened. A man with grey-white hair and one visible eye stepped inside, and swept the nigh-empty classroom. Finding the place still filled with four students rather than three, he frowned, though it was hidden by the cloth that covered the lower half of his face. "My first thought is…there's one too many of you. Those who are supposed to be my students, meet me on the roof in five minutes."

He walked out, and Naruto quirked a brow. "He's this late and that's all he has to say for himself? Interesting guy."

"I'll kick his ass! Shannaro!"

Pause. Everyone in the room turned to stare at Sakura, who seemed to wither under the collective gaze.

_Ooookay_.

--

"I do believe I said that only my students are supposed to be up here." The man said. Sakura and Kiba looked at Naruto, who shrugged.

"Yuugao-neechan said that I'm attached to Team Seven for the day, so here I am."

"Ah." The jounin catalogued the fact that the boy referred to the unofficial 'head' of the jounin tribunal as his sister. There was no possible way they were related, but it was something to make note of regardless. "Well, in that case, we'll start with introductions. I'll go first, to show you how it's done. My name is Hatake Kakashi. My likes, dislikes, and dreams are personal. Now, you." He nodded at Sakura, who stared at him.

"That didn't tell us anything!" She protested weakly, and was met with a loose shrug from Kakashi. Sighing, she began. "My name is Haruno Sakura. My likes, well…" Here, she glanced at Sasuke, who didn't seem to notice. "My dislikes are anyone who refers to my forehead as big and perverts. My dreams are…" Again, a furtive look at Sasuke, accompanied by a faint blush.

Naruto sighed. _God, could these people be any more vague about themselves?_ Kakashi turned on him, and Naruto got the distinct impression that he was grinning under that mask. "Well, then, boy, it's your turn."

He hesitated, and then shrugged. "Sure. My name is Sakurazuka Naruto, formerly Uzumaki Naruto." He didn't seem to notice Kakashi's slight reaction to the name. "My likes are ramen, onmyou, and all of the Sumeragi. My dislike is the shade who lives in me, because he seriously weirds me out sometimes. My dream is to become the strongest onmyouji in the world and then work toward unity."

"Unity?" Kakashi blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Eh. Hard to explain in words." _Hey, you want to be vague with your introduction, I'll be vague with mine._

"Hn." The jounin turned toward Sasuke. "Your turn, happy boy."

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. My likes and dislikes are inconsequential. My dream is to kill a certain man." The black-haired boy stated bluntly.

Naruto quirked a brow. _If you actually knew what it was like to kill, I don't think you'd be so eager. But then, maybe I'm wrong._

"And lastly…" Kakashi turned to Kiba, who flashed a toothy grin. "The name is Inuzuka Kiba. My likes are Akamaru, trees, and clean-smelling women. My dislikes are people who don't bathe and girls who wear too much clothing. My dream is to become the strongest ninja in Konoha, of course."

_Well, one out of four sane people isn't too bad._ Kakashi rationalized.

"Well then, allow me to inform you of the procedures of the day. How long has it been since any of you ate?"

The answers were mixed, but five hours seemed most common. "All right, good. You should have digested most of your food by now. In two hours' time, I want all of you to meet me on Training Field 10 for your genin test."

"Wait," Sasuke frowned. "We already took our genin test."

Kakashi shook his head. "No. You took a test that allowed you to graduate from the academy. You are not a genin until you pass the test your jounin sensei gives you." He smirked. "Don't eat anything between now and then unless you want to lose it."

He made to stand up and leave, before Naruto cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but should we expect you to be on time to the training ground?"

"Hm?" Kakashi blinked. "You should show up on time regardless of when I actually happen to show up."

"Hell of a double-standard. But I'm asking primarily so I can decide if it's worth my time to show up or if I shouldn't just wait until my appraisal before heading out."

The jounin had to restrain a chuckle. The boy spoke delightfully bluntly. "Be there."

"Gotcha."

The jounin seemed to disappear from the rooftop, leaving the four children there. Stretching a bit, Naruto stood up. "Well then. I suppose I'll see you all in two hours."

"Hold on!" Sakura started. "You can't just talk to someone like that, especially a jounin! Are you crazy?"

"I don't give anyone respect unless they prove that they're worth it. He's already decided that we're not worth his time, so why should I give him that satisfaction? Besides," and here he smirked, "he's not _my_ teacher. Why should I care?"

Sakura frowned, but could not find a way to combat that logic beyond the normal 'kids should respect their elders' response. But, as he had said earlier, _normal_ hardly seemed to apply to him.

"So yeah, two hours." Naruto waved to the three, receiving two waves in return, before heading down the stairs.

"He's such a fool." Sasuke finally said, turning to glower at the door Naruto had just left through. "'I don't give anyone respect unless they prove they're worth it'? The man is a jounin. He's strong enough to kill. That alone proves him worthy of respect. What other measure can you take except one of strength? The strongest one gets the most respect, and that jounin is certainly stronger than him."

Kiba snorted. He knew the 'might makes right' mentality. He loved proving that he was the stronger of the two in any fight, but he also knew from the few times he'd seen his mother dealing with clan and village affairs that strength came in various types, and physical strength would ultimately mean little in the long run. When Sasuke turned his glare on him, he bared his teeth. "Don't mind me, pretty boy."

"I don't care about the opinions of a dead-last."

"You wanna fight?!"

Well, so much for the sophistry.

--

Two hours later, Team Seven and Naruto were assembled on the field. Sakura paced, and Naruto grumbled alongside his stomach about a lack of food. Kiba spoke in low tones with Akamaru, a subject that had fascinated Naruto to the point where he'd once asked Kiba if he could really understand Akamaru.

"Kinda," the Inuzuka had replied. "It's more like my mind can translate what Akamaru says into pictures and from that I can understand what he's saying. Mom, though, can understand everything. She says that eventually I'll get to be the same way."

"That's a really cool power. Does it only work with dogs?" Naruto asked around a mouthful of noodles.

"Yeah. Mom said that sometimes she can get glimpses from other animals, and she uses it on missions every now and then and she says it's saved her life, but she doesn't rely on it at all."

Now, Naruto wondered what they were talking about, but chose not to interrupt. Kiba tended to be very private with Akamaru, from what the Sakurazuka had gathered in his brief week back in Konoha.

"Everyone is here, good." Naruto blinked in surprise. He checked his watch; it was only five minutes after the designated meeting time. Turning, he saw the jounin, Hatake Kakashi, standing languorously beside a tree.

"Very well, if everyone is ready, I will explain the test. Your job is to take these bells," holding up two shiny, silver bells, "from me through any means possible. You have three hours to do so. Those who have a bell after those three hours will pass the test."

Naruto paused, frowning. Something wasn't adding up here. Two bells, three genin, that meant…

Sakura voiced his curiousity. "Kakashi-sensei, if there are only two bells but three of us, then that means that one of us will fail!"

"That's right!" Kakashi said cheerfully. "One of you is going to fail. Now, when I give the word, you will have three hours to claim these bells. And I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but you have to sit this one out."

The blond, who had looked rather excited at the prospect of getting involved in the tussle, deflated, his shoulders sagging. "Yeah yeah, not a part of the team and all that."

"You can have front-row seats." The jounin promised solemnly. Naruto perked up a bit at that. "A close-up view of carnage and mayhem, all yours for the low price of nothing. Interested?"

"…carnage. You promised."

Kakashi's smirk carried into his eyes. "On my honor, Naruto-kun."

--

It was carnage, all right, Naruto decided. The jounin had added insult to injury by pulling out a book – Naruto recognized the distinctive orange cover of an _Icha Icha_ volume – and beginning to read while his genin made ready. The first hour was relatively quiet as plans were laid out. Or rather, Naruto had _assumed_ that plans were being laid out. In hindsight, he wondered if anyone had stopped to think that three versus one might actually work better than what they attempted to do.

He had known for a fact that Kiba was going to go head-on for Kakashi. It was what the kid was best at; subterfuge was not one of his stronger points. To his credit, he did force Kakashi to look away from his book once before delivering the promised carnage. A lightning-fast uppercut to the tip of his jaw and Kiba lost all control of his body. He was still having trouble moving by himself at the moment.

Sasuke had shown the skill that everyone said he had, including use of a few fire jutsu that looked fairly impressive but were overall pointless against Kakashi's skill. Naruto thought that a lot of his taijutsu was wasted motion, though, and figured that in a hand-to-hand fight he would probably come out on top.

Sakura…Naruto shook his head. Her performance had been relatively abysmal. One technique, some kind of illusionary abilility – _genjutsu­_, Naruto mentally corrected himself – and she was out of the fight entirely. He imagined that if she could get over whatever that was about, she probably would perform decently. Still, the three hour mark passed and the sun was beginning to set. He checked his watch. Only another hour and a half until his appraisal was scheduled to take place.

"You all, as you should realize by now, have failed. Horribly." Kakashi stated bluntly. "Not one of you came near to capturing a bell. However, I am generous. I'm feeling rather hungry. Since you, pinky, performed the worst, I am forbidding you to partake in any food." He produced three bentos from a storage scroll, and handed one to Kiba, Sasuke, and Naruto. "If I find out that any one of you has shared food with her, you will all be failed."

Naruto blinked. _That sounds unnecessarily cruel. Ah well._ He opened the bento and took a few bites, as did the others, Sakura's growling stomach composing an awkward tune to fill the silence.

"You know, you guys probably could have taken him if you'd gone at him together instead of one at a time." He said at last, breaking the silence.

"He's a jounin, moron. There's no way that three of us could distract him for more than a few seconds." Sasuke retorted.

"What if a few seconds is all you needed? It's not like the job was to take him down. Distract him long enough for someone to sneak in and grab the bells."

"There were only two though!" Sakura cut in. "Even if that worked, only two of us at most would get the promotion."

Naruto frowned. That _did_ complicate matters. The only alternative he could think of was an answer that was so amazingly obvious that it seemed like it wouldn't require iterating – but given the personalities of this group, perhaps it was just the lesson they needed. Shrugging at last, he decided to play a little game. "Still though, you guys sucked. Nobody could handle him for more than a few seconds at most."

"Like _you_ could have done better, idiot."

Naruto turned to stare levelly at Sasuke. "In all honesty? I probably could, the first time at least."

The Uchiha snorted. "Prove it."

Naruto smiled mercilessly, and a hint of unease flickered over the Uchiha's face at such a predatory look. "If he'll let me, sure."

Kiba shook his head. "You don't stand a chance, Naruto. The guy moves too fast to follow, at least as we are now."

"That's why I'll keep him from moving." Naruto said.

"How?" Kiba responded.

"I just will. I know that I will, and as such, it will happen."

Sakura gaped at him, at such arrogance, but a small part of her that remembered his trick on the first day of class wondered whether it was an unfounded arrogance.

Her stomach continued to growl until, at last, Sasuke sighed. "All right, fine. I'll give you some of mine." She opened her mouth to protest, and he shook his head. "He's not around to see, and you'll do no good to us if you're weak from hunger by the time he gets back. So eat."

Flushing slightly, she opened her mouth to accept the food, when Kakashi reappeared. "I thought," his voice was dangerously low, "that I said nobody was to feed her."

Sasuke grunted. "She'd have gotten in the way if she was weak, and we need her to be strong."

"Is that so?" Kakashi rounded on Kiba, who nodded hesitantly.

"Very well then. You all…pass."

Blink blink. Naruto smiled as the realization dawned on them. Sakura was the first to react vocally. "Then, all of this was about teamwork?"

"Yes. I can see that if you took the time to learn each others' strengths and weaknesses you'd form a very formidable team. But if every one of you is running off on his own then you're going to get yourself killed or your teammates killed. A ninja who breaks the rules, they say, is scum." Kakashi leaned in. "But people who abandon their friends for the sake of a mission are lower than scum.

"This rock is carved with the names of heroes. But don't get too attached to the idea. These heroes all have one thing in common. They're all dead. It is your job to make certain that neither you nor any of your teammates wind up on this rock." Solemn silence filled the gap here, and he finally relaxed. "Since Team Seven is now active, we will begin taking missions tomorrow. I expect everyone ready on time," ignoring the pointed looks sent his way, "and prepared for whatever the tribunal gives us. Understood?"

The trio saluted sharply, and Kakashi nodded. "Dismissed."

"Not just yet, sensei." Sasuke stated, turning to Naruto. "You said that you could pass the bell test by yourself. Let's see it, right now."

Kakashi turned his eye to Naruto, who shrugged. "If you really want to see it, then sure. Assuming that's all right with you, Kakashi-sensei. I mean, this won't take more than a few seconds."

The jounin didn't know whether to be amused or insulted by the insinuation, and settled on indifferent. "Well, as long as it doesn't take too long, I don't mind." Pulling out the book, he settled into his reading stance. "Whenever you're ready."

Naruto pulled an ofuda from the sleeve of his shirt and began to chant softly. The trees rustled, and Sakura swore that she glimpsed cherry blossoms between the branches. Even Kakashi looked up from his book momentarily.

"Sakurazukamori Genkaku Onmyou!" Naruto cried, thrusting forward with the ofuda. "Ne Hokaku Houhou!"

Suddenly, Kakashi was being forcibly restrained by a number of roots. He grimaced, and pulled with all of his might, but could not budge them more than an inch. No matter how he struggled, he could do nothing as Naruto walked forward and plucked the two bells off of the jounin's belt.

As soon as Naruto turned to walk away, Kakashi felt the bonds disappear, and blinked. He had certainly rather underestimated the boy. The other three were speechless. Then Sasuke scowled, and turned to walk away. After a moment's hesitation, so too did Sakura and Kiba.

When they were gone, Naruto sighed and tossed the bells over his shoulder to Kakashi, who caught them handily. "So, Naruto-kun, mind explaining that?"

"Explaining what? How I managed to hold you perfectly still despite your best efforts to break free, despite being a novice and all of twelve years old?"

"Something like that, yeah."

Naruto sighed. "Maybe you'll understand it easier than I did when I first learned the theory behind it. If you haven't guessed, I don't use ninjutsu. Well, I know Kage Bunshin, but that's the extent of it. I don't know genjutsu. But I know onmyoujutsu. And onmyoujutsu is an external art, rather than an internal art like genjutsu or ninjutsu."

"Meaning what, exactly?"

"Well, most of the information I have on genjutsu is a little sketchy, but you can help me. Genjutsu is all about creating a world that the target will believe, yes? You can't just make yourself disappear with genjutsu because the target knows that you're right in front of him, but you can make yourself invisible if the target doesn't know you're supposed to be there. That kind of thing. It all relies on how your opponent perceives reality, yes?"

Kakashi nodded. "In theory. In practice it works a little differently, but that's why you don't really see too many genjutsu masters."

"Well, my onmyoujutsu illusions work differently. They work based on my perception of reality. So long as I believe something is a certain way, as long as my force of will overpowers yours, you believe it too. For instance, I could tell you that you weren't actually restrained by anything. But I convinced your mind that you were, in fact, bound."

Kakashi blinked. "Wait. Then when I was using all of my strength to break free, I couldn't because…?"

"Your mind believed that no matter how hard you struggled, you would not break free, because that was the reality I imposed on you." Naruto shrugged. "When I had it explained to me, the Reverend Mother said that it works because the mind makes it real. I imagine that had I been an actual enemy ninja and not, for instance, some brat in your eyes, it would not have worked as well because you would have _needed_ to escape in order to survive, and your force of will would probably have overcome mine. It's not infallible by any means, but it's strong enough."

Kakashi frowned, beginning to put pieces together. As a higher-up member of the Konoha military forces, he knew of the existence of the Sakurazukamori. All reports had indicated, though, that he was dead, found in an alleyway some seven or eight years ago. He didn't know how the line continued, but the clan name Sakurazuka, now that Kakashi thought about it, and the origin of the mystical powers associated with the Sakurazukamori were beginning to make sense when this boy presented everything. "So then, you're the-"

"No." Naruto interrupted. "Not yet, at least. I'm too weak to take the mantle up properly. Plus, I don't like killing people."

"You'll make a pretty pathetic ninja if you're squeamish about killing people." The jounin commented.

"I don't like to do it. It doesn't mean I won't do it. It doesn't…" Naruto's throat seized, but he forced his way past it. "It doesn't mean I haven't done it before."

Something in his tone gave away part of his secret to Kakashi, who put a hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair. "So where are you supposed to be getting assessed, Naruto-kun?"

"Here, actually." A feminine voice spoke up, and Kakashi turned to see Uzuki Yuugao, Gekkou Hayate, and, surprisingly, Hyuuga Hiashi approaching. "Well, Kakashi-san, I suppose you had to learn about Naruto sooner or later."

"Hn." The grey-haired jounin turned to face the impromptu leader. "Could have warned me about his tricks a little earlier, Neko."

"Hey, I know as much as you do." She smiled disarmingly. "That's mostly what tonight is about. We're here to assess Naruto's abilities in relation to what we do know, so that we can find out where he needs to be." Now, she turned to Naruto. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess." The blond smiled.

--

In retrospect, perhaps he wasn't as ready as he'd thought. While his onmyou techniques had been demonstrated adequately, he had thought that his hand-to-hand proficiency test was going to be a fairly simple matter.

Then the man from the Council, Hyuuga Hiashi, had stepped forward and proceeded to beat Naruto senseless. He could remember getting two shots in, but neither seemed to do any real damage to the man who advanced. Naruto had always assumed he was fairly good on the defensive end of martial arts, but Hiashi's attacks had seemed serpentine in the way that they danced around his blocks to strike him. By the time Yuugao finally called the match to an end, Naruto was beginning to see the emerging pattern, but the man's adaptability was ridiculous.

"Well, Naruto, we're ready to give our verdict."

"Jus' a moment." The boy replied, still facedown in the dirt and grass. He hurt, he hurt a lot, he didn't really want to move. Slowly, though, he forced himself up, got both of his legs under him, and stood upright. Swaying a little, he approached the tribunal. Yuugao motioned to the rock, and Naruto gratefully accepted the offer, collapsing on it.

"Well, we have come to an agreement. While you show talent in areas considered the equivalent of ninjutsu and genjutsu above the norm for a genin, and your taijutsu is remarkable for your age, we have decided that placing you in the rank of Chuunin at the moment would be…imprudent."

Naruto blinked, tilting his head. "Why?"

"Well, consider this. Even one of our most talented ninjas took a year to go from genin to chuunin. Do you know why?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment. They organized all genin into teams. Certainly there was something to be said for others shoring up your own weaknesses, but if they acted at all times like Team Seven had earlier, then… "So basically, I don't have the kind of teamwork experience required to obtain that rank."

She smiled. "Got it in one. We can't have people infighting during the kind of missions our chuunin are liable to receive. So we need you to gain a little bit of experience in that field before you can be moved up the ranks."

"I see. And how are we going to do this? I don't really have a team."

"This is where Kakashi comes in." The Copy-Nin looked up from his book upon hearing his name, and she grinned. "Naruto will remain an attaché of the Council to Team Seven for their upcoming mission. I hope your team is ready, Kakashi."

"We should be. What's the mission though?"

"An escort. We'll be explaining the whole of it tomorrow, but you'll be escorting a bridge-builder to aid in the completion of his project in a timely manner. The bridge is located in Nami no Kuni."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "You're giving an escort mission, and an escort mission into foreign territory, to a newly-graduated class? That seems fairly risky."

Yuugao's smile evaporated and she sighed, finally showing some of the exhaustion of her position. "We don't have much of a choice. This is a C-rank mission. Theoretically, you shouldn't be under much, if any, danger. But you need to understand, Kakashi, we need to get as many of our people abroad as we can right now without it looking like a mobilization."

"Why?" Naruto asked from the side.

"We need someone new to step into the role of Hokage. The Triumvirate, with some outside opinion," Both Hayate and Hiashi nodded solemnly, "has determined a small list of candidates. But we don't know where some of them are, so we need everyone spread out while keeping most of Konoha's military at home."

"And time is running out, I assume." Kakashi frowned. "Danzou putting on his normal song and dance for the Council?"

"Even more than usual. And it seems unless we actually get someone else, anyone else, we won't have a choice. And I don't think anyone here wants to envision a Konoha under Danzou's tender guidance."

The group shuddered.

"So who are the candidates that we're supposed to keep an eye out for?" Kakashi asked.

"You will be looking for anyone on the list, but keep an eye out for two specific individuals, since we've had tips that they were in that location. You're probably familiar with their names. Senju Tsunade and Jiraiya."

"…who?" Naruto interrupted.

The grey-haired jounin blinked. "Really? Two of the sannin in a backwoods place like Nami?"

"Well, last report had that they were in Cha no Kuni moving north toward Nami. Apparently, Tsunade needs money to pay off her debts, and some people who owe her live there."

"Still the Legendary Sucker, eh?" Kakashi chuckled. "Kind of fitting that one of Sandaime's students would take his position, especially after-"

Yuugao glared at him sharply, and he stopped talking. Naruto had suddenly perked up, paying close attention to Kakashi. "What? Especially after what?"

"Nothing, Naruto-kun. Nothing." Yuugao smiled, but Naruto could tell it was fake. He scowled, but didn't press the issue.

"Well then." Hiashi nodded to Kakashi and the others. "If everyone doesn't mind, I have a few matters I would like to discuss with Sakurazuka-san in private."

Hesitant to leave, Yuugao looked at the boy, who shrugged and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Why not?" With a resigned sigh, she nodded. "Please be on time for the assignment tomorrow, Naruto-kun."

"Understood." The boy never once looked away from Hiashi, perhaps as though trying to discern something from the stone face that would give a hint of what was such an issue that he had to be called out specifically.

When the three others finally left the clearing, Hiashi nodded. "Sakurazuka-san, would you please come with me? My family's compound is not far, and I am sure that you would not object to tea."

Naruto wouldn't have objected anyways, but there seemed to be some hidden emphasis that hinted at a subtle threat if he disagreed. Looking up at the Hyuuga Clan Head, he nodded. "Fine, but only if you stop with the Sakurazuka stuff. I'm Naruto."

"Naruto-san then." Hiashi felt a little weird having the terms of address dictated to him by a child, but as long as he maintained some pretense of formality, it didn't seem too bad to acquiesce. Especially given what he was going to ask of the boy shortly.

"Lead the way, then." Naruto stifled a yawn, and Hiashi began to walk through the forest back towards Konoha. Between their conversation as they walked, Hiashi mentally sounded out the request again and again, refining it until he knew that there was no way that the boy would possibly refuse.

This was, after all, a rather vital matter. Hiashi would not allow the boy to refuse.

--

Notes: Sakurazukamori Genkaku Onmyou: Ne Hokaku Houhou roughly translates to Sakurazukamori Illusion Onmyou: Root Capture Method.


	4. Chapter 4

But An Illusion

A Naruto Fanfic by

Joak Drysso

Chapter 4

---

Yugakure no Sato slept peacefully. Despite its popularity as a resort location, nightlife was isolated so that the majority of the citizenry didn't need to deal with it. A long-time minor player in shinobi affairs, it had recently decided to step away from the military side of things, preferring to let the greater villages fight it out. The leaders had turned to a far more profitable and far less dangerous method of economic prosperity. Their local hot springs had drawn attention before, and it took little time for word to spread, through the right ears, of the amazing resorts to be found.

This change was not universally accepted, of course. Many shinobi who had little else to work with found themselves out of jobs. They were often laughed out of any attempt to negotiate work with the greater shinobi villages, under the assumption that a smaller village could not train its shinobi as well as their own. And for the most part, they were right; some of Yugakure's best jounin were on the same level as most chuunin coming into their jounin ranks. It was a consequence of having little in the way of combat experience for generations at a time.

These shinobi tried to make their feelings known the only way they knew how: by employing their skills. When they were quickly eliminated by hired ninjas, it became clear that there was no room for negotiation. With that, Yugakure no Sato began to settle into a sense of normalcy as a resort town.

That was what Hidan hated. He hated the complacency. He hated the normalcy. It was so. Damn. _Boring._ And that was what he sought to change. He didn't know how at first. He had never been a very good shinobi; his advancement had halted at chuunin, even after years of trying to break into the jounin rank. Despite that, he wasn't so stupid as to assume that after many of their upper echelon fell in battle that he would be able to succeed where they hadn't.

For years he had steamed, surviving on the funds he had managed to accumulate during his service. And then it just happened that one day during his routine run, he came across a gathering. Initially, he had intended to simply kill everyone there just to let off a little stress, but had been disabled rather handily by one of the people present, who was apparently an Iwa jounin of some renown.

That was his first introduction to Jashin. He listened as the members spoke in prayer to their god, a primordial force known only as Jashin. It was a painfully generic name, but Hidan found that he liked a lot of what he was hearing. Murder, mayhem, destruction, it sounded magnificent. The more he listened to their services, which really just sounded like a list of the most gruesome capital offenses one could commit in civilized countries, the more he wanted to know about this Jashin, and how he could devote himself to a being so pure in its mission.

He was accepted pretty easily. Hidan never wondered why. The only thing on his mind, at the time, was the carnage he would doubtless get to be a part of. That was why he never objected to anything they asked of him. He became a messenger for Yugakure, coordinating various elements of the cult for meetings and sacrifices. His dedication to the cause allowed him to rise quickly in the eyes of many.

Then they finally approached him. They were experimenting with techniques that would allow him to become a true instrument of Jashin. They had already refined the technique some, and they wanted to know if he were interested, and of course he was. The preparations were quick. Hidan never truly realized the gravity of his situation until he was forcibly restrained on the altar where the ceremony and experiment would take place.

He did not know how long the procedure actually took. He only knew that it felt like an eternity. But he would always be infinitely grateful for that procedure. Not just for the power it granted him, no. Though it felt amazing, and he had of course tested it on the bastards that had dared to render him immobile and cut him open without so much as a word of preparation, the power was not the reason he was so exultant.

He had had a religious experience. He had seen Jashin, and received word. He was to become the right hand of Jashin. Jashin had shared its vision with Hidan, and he felt truly blessed. It was with his new strength and this religious awe that he drove the cult to reorganize. He had no head for the logistics and funding needed for what he saw needed to be done, but there were people in the organization that did, and he drove them to it.

Soon enough his plan, Jashin's great plan, was beginning to form. The cult was spreading, seeds sprouting up all across the continent, and he felt a sense of pride swell up in his chest knowing that such a thing was possible because of him. That just left his unfinished business. He had to start everything. Jashin was, up to now, a name whispered in circles of devotees. It was time for them to step out onto a grander stage. They would always work from the shadows, but the world would _know_ of his glorious vision.

Yugakure slept, but Hidan did not.

By morning, there was nobody to wake up.

---

The audience room of the Hyuuga compound was dead silent. Four people sat in the room. Hyuuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga clan; two servants, Hyuugas Shirake and Sase; and Sakurazuka Naruto, head of the Sakurazuka "clan". The mood was dour even for such a late gathering, but the only person who seemed affected by it was Naruto. He couldn't help but somewhat admire Hiashi's composure.

The elder man sat on the far end of the room, calmly drinking the tea provided by Sase. Despite the late hour, to be able to command such loyalty and composure was amazing to Naruto, who proceeded to yawn. He had been awake for some time, and it was getting hard for him to stay awake in the silent, static atmosphere.

He saw Hiashi quirk an eyebrow as he finished yawning, and Naruto flushed slightly, feeling like he had embarrassed himself. At long last, Hiashi set down his teacup. "Well then, Naruto-san, if you will not begin this discussion, I shall."

"I'd have started it if I knew where to start." The blond grumbled to himself, though Hiashi easily caught it. His eye ticked, but he didn't comment on the child's rudeness.

"I have a proposition for you. One that will secure you a foothold in any Konoha operation you desire should you accept it."

"That's some claim." Naruto responded blandly. "I'm not the best student of history, Hiashi-san, but I know that power waxes and wanes. What's to say that you won't fall out of favor in a week, leaving me standing alone again? I'm back where I started, but you've profited off of me." He shook his head. "No, that's not a term that's acceptable to me."

"You desire something more than the considerable influence of the Hyuuga?" Hiashi smirked. "You do realize that the more you grasp for, the more you have to pay."

Naruto clucked his tongue. "That would apply if you were giving me something static and tangible, Hiashi-san. You've given me your word that you'll use influence to get me where I want to go in Konoha. You could renege on that at any time that's convenient to you, yes?"

Hiashi wasn't sure whether or not he should be insulted that the boy held so little faith in Konoha's most-established family, or impressed that he refused to take verbal agreements at face value. "That is, theoretically, true. However, you underestimate the honor of the Hyuuga Clan. We do not go back on our word, once given."

"I don't give a damn about honor." Naruto said. Hiashi had to restrain himself from visibly angering. The sheer disrespect, both from the statement and the language used in the statement, was an affront to his dignity. Not even ten minutes into the discussion and he was tempted to leave. However, Naruto wasn't done. "Honor, inasmuch as ninja are concerned, means nothing. You backstab, you manipulate, you do whatever it takes to get the job done. So the Hyuuga's honor is, in any practical sense, worthless. If your mission means betraying me, you'd do it in a heartbeat, and your 'honor' would be worthless to me.

"You're right, Hiashi-san. I want something more. But I won't pay more to get it, because what you're giving me is something that has no worth. I'm paying something for nothing, and that's not a deal that I'm going to accept."

"You'll accept it, Naruto-san." Hiashi said, narrowing his eyes. "We have nothing more that we would offer you except for our influence." He raised his hand to forestall Naruto's comment. "However. I do understand your position. Obviously, it would be mad to make you accept a verbal agreement without any kind of proof. If we give you a sufficiently physical proof of our agreement, would you concede the point?"

Naruto sat back, staring at Hiashi. The older man had a perfect poker face, betraying nothing but intent on sealing the deal. The blond frowned, trying to get some kind of read on the man. He got nothing. At last, he reached for the cup of tea and lifted it, drained it, and set it down. "Define sufficiently physical proof."

Hiashi nodded solemnly. "Tell me, Naruto-san, how much do you know of the Hyuuga?" At the boy's dumbfounded look, he continued. "This is cogent to our discussion, believe me."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully to himself, barely noticing as Shirake poured another cup of tea for him. "Practically nothing. Why?"

Hiashi folded his arms and stared across the room at Naruto. "Then you are not aware that Hinata has a younger sister." When the blond shook his head, he continued. "Her name is Hanabi; she is five years Hinata's junior. You asked for sufficient proof. When you complete the task I request and have truly come into the service of Konoha in an indisputable manner, she will be sent to you to act as a concubine."

Naruto's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"

"She will be unmarked, of course, I assure you of that. But you've asked for a legitimate method of demanding the Hyuuga's compliance; a political ally like Hanabi will help enforce that compliance."

"But, I mean, she's your daughter."

"I'm aware of that fact." Hiashi responded dryly. "That's why she would be an effective tool."

"But, I mean, so would Hinata."

"Would Naruto-san prefer I offer my eldest child?" The man intoned, quirking a brow.

"No!" Naruto looked stricken.

"Good. Because the law of primogeniture states that it would be improper for me to strip Hinata of her status as the heir to send her off. Since she has assumed her place, it is proper for me to make certain that Hanabi is arranged for."

"And so you're marrying her off?"

"Would Naruto-san prefer I arrange a marriage rather than sending her to be a concubine?"

"No!"

"Then she will be a concubine."

"I didn't-"

"You're getting what you asked for, Naruto-san. Physical proof of our agreement." As Naruto's head dipped, whether from frustration or embarrassment or any combination of emotions, Hiashi allowed the ghost of a smirk to appear for a moment. _You're not bad, Naruto-san, but you'll need another few decades before you can take me on._

"Now that the terms have been agreed on, Naruto-san, let's discuss the task I need you to complete."

---

So it was that as Hyuuga Hiashi exited the audience room at eight in the morning with the hint of a smile playing over his lips, accompanied by a bemused-looking blond boy, the Hyuuga knew it was going to be a pretty good day.

Both of them looked absolutely exhausted. Naruto had it less difficult than Hiashi, used to pulling all-nighters at the Sumeragi Compound, as well as a few this past week in an attempt to come to a more complete understanding of the ninja world, which he was, all things considered, pretty unused to. But the effect of missing a night's sleep was still visible in his faltering step and sluggish motions.

"Well then, Naruto-san, I suppose I've kept you long enough. I understand you have other obligations, so I should let you get to them. We have agreed on the terms of our exchange?"

Naruto nodded numbly, stifling a yawn. "You're a tough bastard to negotiate with, Hiashi-san."

Had any Hyuuga actually been in earshot of the conversation, they would have been worried for the child's life. Hiashi, when it came down to it, was a man who steadfastly understood and followed the idea of hierarchy. Everyone in the Hyuuga clan had their place, and even visiting dignitaries knew their place in relation to Hiashi.

"Yes, well, there are certain things that are necessary for the future of this clan, and I am willing to do anything and everything to make sure that it happens." He countered lightly.

Naruto smiled. "Yeah, you seem like that kind of person. So does your daughter."

Hiashi paused midstep, and turned to look at the boy. "Oh? I was not aware that you were so acquainted with Hinata."

The boy scratched his head, looking bashful. "Well, I don't know if it's really an acquaintance. She and I had an, uh, interesting conversation the day I came back." He thought back, and his smile dimmed a bit. "She's strong, isn't she?"

"Yes." Hiashi nodded. "For a while, after her mother died, she seemed to decay. If it had gone on any longer, I would have had to consider crafting Hanabi into my successor. There's no telling how that may have affected them. But one day, she just bounced back. To this day I still don't know why, but I count my blessings."

Naruto opened his mouth to clarify, but thought better of it and quieted up. Thinking back to that conversation, he would always become increasingly agitated. On one hand, he knew why she wanted to confirm herself, but the implications still disturbed him.

So he decided it was time to get away from that conversation altogether. "Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to go prepare for my mission. We're supposed to meet in half an hour."

"By all means, Naruto-san." Hiashi moved to lead them to the gate when he heard the ruffle of clothes and a slight gasping behind them. He turned, and saw one of Konoha's messengers kneeling, slightly out of breath.

"An urgent summons for Hyuuga Hiashi-sama, from the Konohagakure Triumvirate!" The messenger held up the scroll, and Hiashi took it. Untying the thin string that bound it, he unrolled the parchment and read it. His eyes widened first, and then narrowed, before rolling it back up and glaring at the messenger.

"You're certain of this?" His tone was no longer reserved and amused, but harsh and demanding.

"The Triumvirate has a witness, and several messengers from other Great Villages bearing similar queries." The messenger clarified.

Hiashi nodded, and then turned to Naruto. "I'm sorry, but I lack the time to escort you properly. An urgent matter has arisen and I need to see to it. Best of luck with your mission, Naruto-san."

Naruto, still a bit confused by the sudden development, nodded. "Then I'll see myself out."

"Not at all." Hiashi clapped his hands once, and one of his servants came running to his side from across the field. "Usui, please see Naruto-san out, I have business to attend to."

"At once, Hiashi-sama. This way, Naruto-sama."

---

The room was dead quiet when Hiashi stepped inside. He immediately noticed three oddities. The first, a quivering mess of a man in the corner, whispering repeatedly to himself as two Konoha ANBU stood guard over him; the second, Yamanaka Inoichi laid out on the ground with Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Chouza trying to rouse him; the third, four differently-uniformed men bearing seals from Iwa, Kumo, Suna, Kiri. Nobody seemed to notice him come in, and so he slid calmly into his place in the impromptu "circle" and waited for the incapacitated Yamanaka to be roused.

The silence of the room was broken when Inoichi groaned in pain, signaling his awakening. Some members sighed in relief, and Chouza and Shikaku lifted him up. Yuugao, her face stern despite the goings-on, cleared her throat, seizing the attention of the room. "Inoichi-san, your results?"

The sandy blond winced, and accepted a glass of water from Shikaku. He took a sip from it, then nodded, more to himself than Yuugao. "I couldn't get much. There's a lot of static in there, I think he's trying to shut it out. Made it a little hard to get stuff. What I did get, though…it's pretty bone chilling. At the least, though, I can confirm it's nobody from any of the five major nations."

"You may wish to elaborate on that." The Kumo representative interrupted. "You may understand that we might be a little reluctant to take your word so easily, especially with such a…delicate matter." The Iwa and Kiri representatives nodded as well, ignoring several sour looks from the various members of the Konoha council. Hiashi felt his hackles rise at the man's insinuation, feeling a little less reluctant to restart his feud with Kumogakure, but restrained himself.

Yuugao shot the Kumo nin a warning look. "You overstep your boundaries with your suggestion, delegate, and I would advise you in the near future not to do so again. However, as much as I dislike it, I have to agree. How can you tell, Inoichi-san?"

Taking another sip of water, Inoichi marshaled his thoughts. "Well, his fighting style is absolutely nothing like anything I've seen from any country. Mostly taijutsu-oriented, but even that was slow and obvious. Very little use of ninjutsu, no genjutsu. He also used a giant, three-bladed scythe."

The delegates glanced at each other, murmuring softly. The Kumo delegate cleared his throat. "I understand, and apologize for my earlier comment. Thank you for your clarification."

"So we have an entire village of former ninja dead in one night, and one man who's apparently responsible for it." Shikaku frowned. "Something in all of this isn't adding up. One man not even using jutsu shouldn't have been able to stand up against one shinobi, let alone several."

"Well…" Inoichi paused. "There was one other thing that I managed to skim from him." The room leveled expectant gazes at him. "It was just one word being repeated over and over again inside his head. 'Jashin'."

"Jashin?" The Suna representative blurted out. "That can't be." All heads in the room turned toward him. "Just a few years ago, a death cult appeared in our country. Some of our shinobi got involved. They killed some very promising shinobi before they were caught and detained for questioning and execution. All we ever got out of them were quotations, but they all had one common element. Jashin."

"So this has precedent." Yuugao mumbled softly. Then she looked directly at the Suna delegate. "What did you do?"

"We did what any self-respecting community does when an outside group turns members on their own. We exterminated them. With extreme prejudice. We thought that because of the rumours surrounding Kazekage-sama's youngest son it had started up and was a fairly small group. We didn't expect it to be anything bigger than a couple of incidents."

Yuugao bit her lip, trying to think of a way of piecing together what she was hearing. After a moment, she gave up. Turning to the delegates, she folded her arms across her chest. "Now that your questions regarding Konoha's involvement in the incident are answered, you will be on your way, yes?"

The delegates bowed and filed out, and one by one the members felt their charka signatures departing to their respective countries to deliver the word. Yuugao turned to the council, and leveled a gaze at each of them. "Word of this does not leave this room. This is officially an S-class secret. Until we have some kind of idea what we're dealing with and what kind of influence this cult has, nobody is allowed to breathe a word about it. Any objections?"

The room was silent.

Her face still grim, Yuugao motioned with one hand, and then turned and walked out of the room. Shikaku, after confirming that Inoichi would be all right, rose and followed after her, as did Aburame Shibi.

"Where are they going at a time like this?" Danzo mumbled crossly.

"Knowing her," Hayate responded, coughing into his hand, "to delegate authority."

---

"I have to admit," Kakashi frowned as Team Seven (plus Naruto) lazed around at the base of Hokage Tower, "I've never had to wait for a mission. Usually, it's the other way around."

"Maybe something happened?" Naruto ventured, trying to restrain the yawn that was fighting its way out of his mouth. "When I was leaving, Hiashi-san had to take off in a hurry for some reason or another. Maybe that was it."

Kiba turned to look at Naruto. "Wait, did you just refer to the Hyuuga clan head as Hiashi-_san_?"

Naruto frowned. "Am I not supposed to? We talked for a while up until this morning."

Kiba found his mouth agape. His mom had told him all about the Hyuuga; while the Inuzuka held no dislike for them and did not begrudge them their political power, Tsume was rather vocal about how uptight they could be. To hear about a relative stranger being able to converse so openly with the clan head, well. It was baffling, to say the least.

"What were you talking about? If you don't mind my asking." Sakura intruded, finally looking away from her checklist.

"Well. The first part was him asking me to do something for him. I didn't agree at first because he was trying to rip me off, but then he changed the field on me. So now I have to do a task and when I do, I…er…" His voice trailed off as he tried to find a safe way to disclose the terms of the deal.

"You what?" Kiba prompted.

"It's not important!" Naruto exclaimed. "There's Yuugao-neechan!" He pointed, preparing to sprint away to escape the conversation.

At that moment the door opened and Yuugao, Shikaku, and Shibi stepped into the room, each carrying a hefty stack of papers.

"…not bad." Sasuke mused.

"Yes, well." Yuugao managed to smile, and Naruto could see a bit of the strain in it, and wondered what had happened. "Sorry for being late, but emergency business caught us at a bad time. So, we shall begin now, with Team 7's assignment." She pulled out a sheet of paper. "Your mission is a C-rank escort mission: to protect a bridge-builder as he and his team work toward completion of a project in Nami no Kuni."

Naruto and Kakashi nodded, both already aware of the mission. The rest of the team, however, was a little more disbelieving.

"What?!" Kiba shouted.

"I…really? I mean, something like that for a newly graduated team?" Sakura's voice was a little weak.

Sasuke noted the lack of reaction from Naruto and Kakashi, and schooled his face into something resembling irritation. "You knew."

Kakashi shrugged. "Possibly. Or I'm used to this happening. Don't worry. It's only a C-class mission. Nothing bad will happen, I swear."

"At any rate," Yuugao cut into the conversation, dragging everyone's attention back to the triumvirate, "I'll introduce you to your charge." She clapped her hands twice and the door opened again.

They heard the clack-clack of tengu sandals before they saw him. He stepped out into the room, grey-headed and worn. He hunched over, whether from strain or age Naruto couldn't quite guess, but his body even in old age had a muscular physique. His face was marred, not so much by age but by the stresses of life. _A respectable person_, Naruto concluded, _someone who commands attention and demands dignity._

Any goodwill he felt was shattered immediately. "These are the brats you're foisting off on me? I'm paying damn good money. This is an incredibly important bridge, both for us and for you. This is not the best that my money can buy."

The room was silent for a moment. "Tazuna-san," Yuugao spoke quietly. "Would you please come with me?"

She left the room, followed by a confused-looking Tazuna.

He came out a minute later, pale-faced. He said nothing, just stiffly walked toward the door. A few seconds later Yuugao came back out as well, smiling cheerfully. "He shouldn't be a problem anymore. Do your best!"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something, before a sharp pain in his foot interrupted him. He shot a glare at Sasuke, who silently shook his head. After a moment of consideration, the young onmyouji nodded. It was probably for the best.

---

They were five minutes out of Konoha when Naruto finally cracked. "What happened back there?"

Tazuna blanched in reaction. "She, ah, made it very clear that I was getting my money's worth."

"Oh."

The group trudged on silently, directing their attention anywhere but at each other. The silence was slightly irritating to Naruto, who generally preferred some kind of noise going on unless he really needed to concentrate. It also didn't help that his lack of sleep was catching up to him, and at such an inopportune time. His eyes began to drift shut, before he felt a twinge.

Don't fall asleep, idiot!

He jerked his head up, looking around in confusion. Then he saw the pond that they had just passed begin to ripple. He tilted his head curiously, and then turned away. That wasn't natural. That meant that something was about to happen and hey oh look Kakashi just got shredded by chains.

Wait. What?

He felt their presence before his eyes caught up to them. Their first brutal assault completed, they turned toward the rest of the group, silent and determined. Even before everyone could recover from the sudden demise of their strongest leaders the two enemies were charging again.

---

Sasuke suddenly began to move, dashing forward and ducking beneath a gauntleted thrust, driving his elbow into his enemy's gut and allowing the ninja's momentum to work against himself. Then he sprang forward, shoving the man back and away. He smirked at his opponent, and grabbed a kunai, then bent his knees. He would need to be able to move quickly.

He sensed a flurry of activity behind him, momentarily cursed himself for forgetting that the second enemy was there and had snuck up on him. Then, a white-black and white blur tore right past him, charging at the enemy head-on. Sasuke 'tsk'ed to himself, his condemnation already forgotten as he charged forward to join his teammate. Even with no plan, he figured, Kiba's attacks would at least serve as a distraction.

He hoped that the other two were at least doing their job and protecting Tazuna.

Then he saw the second enemy fly in between himself and Kiba, and then into a tree hard enough to splinter it.

He turned, wide-eyed, and saw Haruno Sakura, her face flushed, hand extended and clenched into a fist. _What the hell?_

---

_These guys are pretty quick_. Naruto frowned. It only deepened when he saw Sakura drop into a defensive stance, grabbing a kunai as Sasuke, then Kiba ran off to engage one of the two enemies. _I can probably give them a run for their money, but they've got to have some tricks up their sleeves._

Then, Naruto's face brightened as he developed a horrible idea.

"Sakura, hey, Sakura!" He suddenly spoke up, and saw her tense suddenly at the sound. He only had another two seconds before the ninja got there, he had to act fast. "I am really sorry about this."

Then he reached out with both hands, and groped her chest.

Her expression went from tense to _intense_ in half a second. "What the hell do you think you're doing, pervert?!" She spun, and Naruto spun with her, moving his hands to redirect her blow. The sudden pirouette had thrown the gauntlet's thrust off, and the ninja caught a face-full of a frighteningly powerful punch.

Naruto whistled in a low tone as the ninja's momentum arrested itself and then reversed in practically no time. "That…is a hell of a right, Sakura."

She stared at her outstretched hand, and then looked over to the ninja, who was unsteadily climbing back to his feet. "What just happened?"

"Don't worry about it!" Naruto chirped. He stepped forward, rolling his shoulders and cracking his knuckles, with a grin promising a lot of pain. "You've knocked him off-balance. Now it's my turn. Just hit him again if he comes near, and keep the objective safe."

Both of them glanced at Tazuna, who was beyond surprised that the brats he had mocked earlier were handling their own in such a disastrous situation. Sakura nodded, stepping closer to him and gripping the kunai tightly. "Just so you know, Naruto, you're going to pay for that."

Naruto winced, and then sank into a Hakkyokuken stance as his foe finally regained enough of his wits to charge in again. _That gauntlet is the thing to beat. Don't take any risks, do this like you've been taught._ He inhaled deeply, exhaled, feeling the fighting calm wash over him. He tested, felt individual muscles respond to his orders, and nodded. The _prana-bindu_ was working fine for the moment, but he'd need to finish this quickly.

He moved forward when his opponent was five paces from him, sliding one step forward with his right foot and beginning the transfer of motion and energy. Toes first, through the ankle, calves, up to his hips; with his left hand he practically brushed the gauntlet aside, extending his hip-shoulder check into his opponent's body. He felt the satisfying connection, allowed the transfer of force to occur, driving his opponent back three steps.

Naruto closed in with three of his own, every relevant muscle driving him at his best speed and optimal strength; he stopped just short, dropping into a low horse stance and driving both open palms into his enemy's abdomen, throwing the ninja a good few meters away. "Damn. Didn't get good contact on that one."

He reached into his coat, and pulled out one of the ofuda charms. "Ah well. I'm better at this anyways." Naruto closed his eyes, tapping into his spiritual reserve. The charm shimmered, and then he hurled it. Almost instantly, the charm transformed into a large, thin black rectangle that sped over the ground. The ninja, barely managing to recover from the double palm strike, leapt up and over it. "Hm. You're not too bad, to be able to dodge my Black Sword." He fished out another three. "But how long can you keep it up?"

---

Kiba growled in frustration as his thrusting palm was swept aside. He barely had time to step aside as Sasuke dashed in, trying to come from below to catch his enemy unaware with a strike to the abdomen. In a show of astonishing flexibility, the enemy ninja bent around the thrust, coming down hard with a counter that hit Sasuke in the chest and drove him into the ground.

The dog-ninja leapt in to try and buy Sasuke time, only to receive a vicious backhand that sent him a few meters off to the left. Kiba pushed himself up onto unsteady feet, straining to clear his muddled vision, and saw the man poised above a prone Sasuke, his gauntlet raised to pierce flesh. Instinct triggered, and he whistled sharply, the pitch warbling to convey his message. It had the side effect of momentarily distracting the man, which was all the time Kiba needed. "Akamaru! Now! TSUUGA!" He steadied himself, then charged the ninja. Leaping mid-way, he threw himself into a spin, spotting his dog mirroring his attack on the other side.

He had expected the dodge, and when the ninja sprang backward to relative safety, he and Akamaru both stopped. He reached down, and grabbed Sasuke's arm, hauling him up out of his small crater. The Uchiha managed to settle himself on the ground, hesitantly nodding to Kiba in thanks. They stared at the ninja, who stared back at them. "So. Ideas?" Kiba finally asked.

"None. You?" Sasuke returned, his brain working at full speed trying to come up with something, anything to use against this guy.

"Well. I've got one, but it's gonna hurt a lot." Kiba grimaced. "Still, if I can get it to work…" His fingers began to move, signing his intention to Sasuke. Hand signals passed between them for several seconds, both keeping an eye on the enemy who was slowly advancing toward them. When Sasuke finally nodded, Kiba grinned. "Then let's do it! Akamaru!" He whistled again, and the puppy charged in a broad loop around the ninja. "Juujin Bunshin!"

Akamaru vanished in a poof of smoke, and suddenly another Kiba was running around the man, on all fours. Kiba glanced backward and saw Sasuke gathering chakra. He returned his attention to the ninja, and nodded. "A few seconds is all it takes…" He pulled the hood of his jacket up over his head.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Kiba tensed and grit his teeth, managing not to scream as the Goukakyuu enveloped him. He waited just long enough to guarantee that he had caught fire, and then charged forward. He had maybe five seconds before the fire managed to start doing serious damage. Up ahead, he saw Akamaru begin to engage the ninja. For the time being, the puppy-turned-human was keeping the man busy, the unfamiliar fighting style throwing off attempts to counter or even strike.

Then, Kiba was within range. "Take this! Tsuuga!" He leapt and throw himself into the spin again, his fiery body colliding with the man directly in the back. Kiba grinned in satisfaction as he felt the impact, and then even wider when he saw the flames on his clothing take to the man as well. He pushed off and away, landing on all fours, before immediately tearing his jacket off and throwing it onto the ground, and then fell himself and began to roll, trying to douse the rest of the fire.

Sasuke approached at a jog, gripping his kunai as he did. He passed by the smoking, groaning Kiba and came alongside the ninja who was now rolling on the ground desperately attempting to extinguish the flames. He slammed his foot down on the man's back in the same place that Kiba's Tsuuga had hit him, and knelt, placing the kunai against his neck. "Don't move."

The man immediately stilled. "Good boy." Then Sasuke summoned strength into his free hand and struck the man in the neck, knocking him out. Then he began to smother the rest of the flames.

Sasuke nodded when they were finally put out, then opened his pouch and pulled out a length of rope, and began to bind the man. _Hopefully the other two haven't died._

---

Naruto was doing a lot better than dying, having managed to keep his opponent on the defensive ever since he started his ranged barrage. He had used all of fifteen charms, hardly a dent in the rather massive stockpile he kept on himself. Still, despite his best efforts his opponent was avoiding his attacks, and Naruto was hesitant to try the Root Capture Method against him.

He was rather surprised when a dark blur slammed into his enemy from the side. The ninja's head was slammed into the ground and dragged a good three meters before friction arrested them. As the dust settled, Hatake Kakashi arose, looking half-amused, half-irritated. "Not bad. Could have been a lot cleaner though."

"But I…you…"

"I'm supposed to be dead? Have some faith in a jounin, eh?" The masked man looked across the clearing to where Sasuke was, surprisingly, helping Kiba up onto his feet while the other ninja, apparently unconscious and bound, lay on the ground a little farther away. "I'm impressed, though. You guys handled that well."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and 'hmph'ed in irritation. "So you say. I didn't even hit my guy."

"Well, that's true." Kakashi commented mildly, paying no attention to the blond's outraged noise as he picked up his incapacitated enemy and walked over toward Sasuke and Kiba. Sakura followed after him, still punching the air and trying to recapture that feeling from before, her face set in stern concentration. Tazuna followed as well, looking rather dazed.

Naruto looked back at the broken ground that marked Kakashi's attack, and his shoulders sagged. "Dammit."

After surveying the battleground for another few moments, he finally turned and began to walk over to the rest. He arrived as Kakashi finished tying his enemy to the tree and depositing his unconscious cohort alongside him. He opened a pouch on his waist and pulled out a contained. He popped it open, then knelt and held it underneath the nose of the man bound to the tree. The man began to stir shortly after, and Kakashi placed the smelling salts back in the pouch.

"Now then. Why are you here?" Kakashi was hoping that the man would either cave easily, or be too out-of-sorts to offer any resistance. Field torture was tough enough, and he didn't want to deal with torture and browbeating in the same day.

The ninja did not answer, and Kakashi sighed. It was going to be the hard way then. Kakashi stood up, turned and walked away from the group. All eyes were on him as he rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Slowly, he turned back around, and even Naruto had to admit that the jounin could look scary when he wanted to.

He fished out a kunai and grabbed the man's hand. He placed the hand against the tree and mercilessly drove the kunai through it, eliciting a strangled cry of pain from the man. "I will ask you again. Why are you here?"

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura started forward. Naruto shook his head, held his hand out to the side to bar her from going forward. "He's gonna kill him if he doesn't say anything! This is torture!"

"Yeah." Naruto nodded. "It's torture. But if he's doing it right here and right now, then I think it's because it's necessary. Give him a minute."

When no response was forthcoming, Kakashi grabbed a second kunai and repeated the process. Then, he held up a hand in front of the man's face and began to channel his chakra. Lightning began to crackle between his fingers, and he lowered his hand to one of the kunai and grasped it. The man's body began to jerk.

Kakashi released the kunai. "And now?"

No answer. Kakashi shrugged and reached down. "Gato sent us!" And froze his hand, inches from gripping the kunai again. "He...he doesn't want the bridge done, he sent us to kill the bridge-builder!"

"Gato the shipping magnate?" Kakashi frowned, turning his eye to Tazuna, who paled considerably.

"Yes. He wants a monopoly on trade, and is willing to do anything to get it." The ninja grimaced, leery of the hand still hovering near the kunai. He had been trained to resist many types of torture, including electric torture, but this guy knew exactly how much was required to keep a man hovering on the edge of consciousness without knocking him out. "That's the only reason."

"Hn." Kakashi studied him for a moment, then gripped the kunai. The man's body began to twitch again, and then his eyes rolled back into his head. Kakashi released his grip and stood up, then nodded. He reached into a pocket on his vest and pulled out a scroll. Opening it, he bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood, and dashed the wound across it. "Kuchiyose."

A small poof marked the arrival of a small dog. "Yo."

Kakashi smiled slightly and knelt, scratching the dog's head. "Pakkun. I need you to run back to Konoha and tell them that we have taken prisoners here. Take them back here. Be quick."

The dog saluted to the best of its ability, and then turned and dashed off.

"That was a summoning, huh?" Naruto commented, breaking the momentary silence. He sniffed. "I don't see how that's much better than my shikigami. Hmph. Stupid Ino."

Kakashi chuckled softly to himself. "Trust me, Naruto, there's more impressive stuff where that came from. However, I do believe we have more pressing matters to attend to. Such as a lying client." He turned slowly to Tazuna, who paled even more.

---

Over the week that separated their departure from Konoha and arrival in Nami, Naruto learned several things. The first was definitely that Hatake Kakashi was not someone to be messed with; Tazuna still started whenever Kakashi turned his attention anywhere in the bridge-builder's direction. He had attempted to play the guilt card regarding the mission, and it had taken Naruto stepping in and reminding Kakashi that the mission wasn't even the real reason they were leaving the country anyways to convince the jounin not to abandon it then and there. After a good hour of deliberation wherein a pair of ANBU soldiers appeared to drag the two ninjas off, he had finally acquiesced to continuing.

The second thing Naruto learned was that Sakura was not easily forgiving. She wasn't a bad person, but she made a point of staying on the opposite side of the group as him and giving him warning looks whenever he looked in her direction. He couldn't blame her entirely, but it was very quickly beginning to wear thin.

The third thing was that his dreams were as weird as ever.

"Where am I now?" He wondered to himself as he floated above the ground. He was in the middle of a desert, a massive sandstorm howling around him. Beneath him was a relatively small town, and Naruto was all set to disregard it before the air in front of him began to shimmer an unnatural black against the night sky, and a pair of leering eyes opened. "Oh. You."

"Oi. No need to be so cold." The shade responded.

"You tried to convince me to kill someone. Someone I loved." The boy folded his arms. "You're not exactly in my good graces right now."

"You ended up doing it of your own free will in the end anyways. Whatever." The shade rolled its eyes, and then formed an arm and gestured downward. "The reason I brought you here is for that. So let's go see, shall we?"

"See what?" Naruto tilted his head in curiousity.

"The future." The shade responded, beginning to fall toward the city.

"I didn't think onmyouji had that kind of power." Naruto dropped with him, trying to puzzle out the mystery laid at his feet. "Divination is limited to seeing the present."

"It is. You were lectured on the limits of divination, so go for it. Puzzle this out, but be quick." The shade grinned toothily, a look which was more than a little creepy in Naruto's opinion.

"Divination is applicable to the present because man is in the present." Naruto intoned, recalling his countless classes with his teachers. "Only death and those who rule it can bend time in either direction. That's why the Rite..." He took a moment to gather himself. "That's why the Rite works as it does, because only through death and the passing of life can the limits of time be broken."

"Close enough. I am, of course, the Sakurazukamori. I have a jurisdiction in the Celestial realm. Some, like the Sumeragi, call that jurisdiction stagnation. I prefer to call it preventing shit like this from happening." He gestured down to the village, less than a fourth of a mile below them.

"Like wh-" Naruto's question was lost in the sudden rush of noise and light. He stared, slack-jawed, as the village he had been looking over disappeared in a series of explosions. One after another, sequenced to perfection and each one planted in just the right to place to cause the maximum death and destruction, demolition-scale explosive tags were detonating, tearing apart building and human without distinction. "What the hell?!"

"Like I said." The shade said idly. "Impressive work, I must admit. No real time to react, but set up in such a way that each blast can be savored individually and in the larger picture. Whoever thought this up knows what he's doing."

"How can you be so calm?!" Naruto screamed. "People are dying down there! What's going on?!"

"Relax. This is the future. A few years down. None of these people are dead yet. You'll understand why you're seeing this shortly. For now, follow me."

Naruto nodded hesitantly, and floated after the shade as the explosions continued to dot the town below them. They swept off toward the east half a mile before they came upon a great host of soldiers moving quickly toward the town. In the middle, wearing notably different garb and wielding a great, wicked, three-bladed scythe, a grey-haired man surveyed the destruction before him, his mouth moving, holding a thick text in his free hand. As they neared him, they began to make out his words.

"Blessed be Jashin who maketh ways of war. Blessed be Jashin who giveth us ways of war. Blessed be Jashin who drives us to war." He had a speaker's voice, rich and deep and easily able to carry out across the force he was driving.

"Amen!" The host around him chorused in unison.

"We are Jashin's instrument. We are the tide of blood that sweeps humanity into its new age. We are the harvester's scythe and the executioner's guillotine. We are the winter famine and the summer plague. We are death in life."

"Amen!"

"Hail to our allies who wreak havoc and sew destruction in the hearts of the people!"

"Hail!"

"Hail to our enemies who inspire their warriors to rise against us, feeding our God with our blood and theirs!"

"Hail!"

"Hail to the bystanders, who tremble as we come for them in the day and in the night, terrified of Jashin's glorious embrace!"

"Hail! Hail! Hail!"

"Let the unbelievers and the cowards know the name Jashin and tremble in terror as we come for them. In one week, Kaze no Kuni shall be a barren land. It will be a land truly suitable for our God, and his throne will be built on their unwilling sacrifice!"

"Hail! Hail! Hail!"

The shade paused, and Naruto paused with it, watching as the host fell upon the village, committing themselves wholeheartedly to the utter desecration of the grounds upon which it once stood. After a few moments of surveying the scene, Naruto looked at the shade. "This is what you were meant to see. This is the realm I control. The future of those who hold great amounts of influence."

"This man...has influence? He's a psychopath!"

"True. But this death cult, they're wide-spread. This is the first action in a much larger war, boy. You needed to see this to understand why this man has to die before anything like this ever happens."

"And what does this have to do with me?"

"You have to kill him." The shade spoke blandly, continuing to watch the carnage. "It is your duty as the heir of my powers to execute anyone who would bring about such drastic and deadly change."

"I...what? Really?" Naruto paled.

"The world is resistant to change, boy. Especially sudden and drastic change. This is beyond drastic. This man is at the head of an apocalyptic cult. They will burn the world to death for their God. It cannot be allowed to pass."

"But, I mean, why me? Surely there are other people better suited for this kind of thing than some kid who's just started into all of this and-"

"There isn't anyone else, boy. The Sumeragi won't know what's happening until it's too late. It is my, and thus _your_, duty to deal with these problems when they come up, for better or for worse. In this case, definitely for better."

"...did you just admit you screw up from time to time?" Naruto blinked.

"Let's just say that I've made attempts that later turned out to be very bad ideas." The shade seemed to flinch. "But there's no mistaking what this guy is trying to do. He needs to be killed, and he needs to be killed by the Sakurazukamori."

"But I'm no-"

"Don't feed me that line of bullshit, kid. You're not as strong as you could be, but you _are_ the Sakurazukamori, and I've put off giving you your responsibilities for long enough." It flickered, and began to fade away. "You won't need to interrupt your mission, we'll find a better time to take care of it, but the time will come, and you can't keep running from it."

"I..." Naruto blinked as he snapped awake. He sat upright, and looked around. It was still night, and the moon could barely be seen through the trees. The fire was long extinguished, and he could make out the sleeping bodies of his five companions. Feeling oddly refreshed even after such a short rest, he stood up, and made his way toward the nearby lake to take a leak.

On the way back, however, something kept nagging at him, something that was out-of-place with their surroundings. He scowled, wracking his brain trying to figure out what it was when he heard a rustle from a bush. He spun and darted over, parting the foliage.

There was nobody there. Nothing menacing.

Only a snow-white rabbit.


	5. Chapter 5

But An Illusion

A Naruto Fanfic by

Joak Drysso

Chapter 5

---

Nami's main port city was unnamed. The country being poor as it was, it happened to be the country's largest city, and so when people said that they were going to Nami, it was generally taken to mean that they were headed to the port city. The business district was actually surprisingly large, all things considered, stretching out over a good two square miles with streets every few hundred yards dividing the place into a fairly neat grid.

Naruto and Kakashi walked down one of those streets, taking in the various shops. In one stretch, a place Naruto had nicknamed the Killer's Street, blacksmiths had been lined up in a row, each boasting quality specialty items. The boy had had to drag Kakashi away from a swordsmith's shop by his collar, ignoring the man's pained cries and constant insisting that they needed to go back.

"So what exactly are we here looking for? I know names, but I don't know who these people are or what they look like." Naruto turned to his silver-haired companion, who hummed thoughtfully.

"Well. Either will do, but they've been spotted together recently, so we're keeping on the lookout for both. The people we're looking for are Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin. Two of Sandaime-sama's students. Either would be a perfect candidate to take over as Hokage." Kakashi frowned. "Just keep your eyes peeled for a blonde woman and a white-haired man."

Naruto gave him an incredulous look. "That's all you can give me? Blonde and white?"

Kakashi shrugged. Naruto growled. "Look, if that's all you're going to give me, you can look yourself. I'll go take care of the herbs for the poultice."

"I don't think Kiba's in need of it _that_ badly, Naruto. He didn't screw up his leg too much." Kakashi _really_ didn't want to run into the Sannin by himself.

"He's the kind of guy who would break his leg trying to do something on it while it's injured. The sooner it gets taken care of, the better. I know some of this stuff. Don't worry about it, I'll be back in a few hours." The blond began to wander off.

"Wait, Naruto! I'll buy you ramen!"

Naruto stopped. Slowly turned his head. "Three bowls, and a decent description of who we're looking for."

"Deal."

"Lead the way! I haven't eaten in almost two hours!"

Kakashi's shoulders slumped in relief. On the way to the ramen bar, he gave Naruto a more detailed description of their targets.

"Oh. So you mean those two people right there?"

Kakashi paused mid-step, looking in the direction Naruto was pointing. Indeed, he caught a flash of blonde, followed by Jiraiya's distinctive hair and swagger, ducking into a restaurant.

"…yes, Naruto. Those two. Ramen will have to wait."

"But…but…"

"Not now. Listen, I need to inform you of something. Jiraiya's eccentric, but he's not really dangerous to us, and he's sympathetic to Konoha. You don't have to be worried about him unless you say something really stupid. However, Tsunade is, well. How do I put it? The last agent sent to talk to Tsunade about returning to Konoha is still undergoing physical therapy."

"When did that happen?"

"Oh. Ten years ago, I think."

"And you want her in charge of your village…why?" Naruto turned a skeptical eye to Kakashi, who shrugged helplessly.

"Triumvirate's decision, not mine. I think they'd prefer Jiraiya, but we can't afford to be picky right now. Come on. We're going in."

"Why am I going again?" Naruto whined.

_So I don't get killed._ "So that you can help me appeal to them."

"Tch. Fine, whatever. If a fight breaks out, though, don't expect me to help."

"If a fight breaks out, you'll have to worry more about defending yourself than helping me." Kakashi took a deep breath, and then strode into the restaurant, Naruto following after him. He glanced around, marked their targets, and then, uttering a prayer to whatever gods were listening, made his way over and sat down. Next to Jiraiya.

Naruto gave him a look of betrayal as he took the seat next to Tsunade. Kakashi mentally prayed for Naruto's safe trip to the netherworld. Then, as Tsunade opened her mouth to question them, Kakashi spoke. "Forgive me for being so forward, but we need to talk about Konohagakure no Sato."

"Boy, move. Or you're going to regret it." Tsunade's tone brooked no argument.

Naruto shook his head. "I'm comfortable where I am, thanks." Then, at the sound of someone clearing her throat, he glanced to his right. A black-haired woman carrying three drinks, a pig, and a scowl, looked down at him. "Oh. Excuse me."

Naruto shifted out of the seat, and the woman sat down, handing Jiraiya and Tsunade their drinks. The blonde woman took a long pull on hers, and then set it down. She extended her middle finger and began to slide it around the rim of the glass. She rested her cheek on the palm of her left hand. "And why should I care anything about Konoha?"

"Well, I don't know if you're aware, but Sandaime-sama is dead." Kakashi stated bluntly. Naruto shifted on his feet. Even after knowing it, it was still a strange statement to hear.

Tsunade's eyes darted to Jiraiya, who tensed slightly. "No, I wasn't aware. Jiraiya, did _you_ know?"

The Toad Sage blanched. "I…might have heard a rumour to that effect from a few sources. I did some checking around and confirmed it. I didn't really want to say anything though." He seemed to relax a little when, instead of reaching over and grabbing him, she merely lifted the glass to her lips for another pull.

"Did your sources happen to mention that it was Orochimaru who killed him?" Kakashi mentioned innocently.

The cracking and shattering of glass drew the attention of the entire restaurant. Tsunade stared at Kakashi, ignoring the blood seeping from cuts, and the sting of the alcohol the glass contained. "Is…is that right?" She turned away for a moment, and Naruto tilted his head in curiosity. When she faced them again, her face was impassive. She turned her attention to her wounded hand. "Well, it's no surprise. He had to die one day."

Naruto froze. _What did she just-she did not just-how could she just-_

"I see. Then I suppose any entreaty to you will fall on deaf ears." Kakashi nodded to himself and turned to Jiraiya. "Given that Konoha is currently leaderless, I would like to ask you to assume the role of-"

"Hold it!" Naruto's fist slammed down on the table. Again, the restaurant looked over at the interruption. A few patrons, now paranoid of a fight, left money and rose to leave. "He was your teacher, wasn't he? And all you can say is…all you can say is that it _had to happen_?"

The dark-haired woman gave Naruto a sharp look and a shake of her head. He understood that she was trying to turn him away from this before things got out of hand, but Naruto was beyond caring.

"Yeah. It had to happen. The title of Hokage is a death sentence. The old man was lucky he survived it once, taking it on a second time was stupid." Tsunade shrugged. "You're asking me to risk my life for a village I have nothing but contempt for? I'll pass, thank you. I have better things to do. Shizune, move. We're done. Our guests will pay." The dark-haired woman, Shizune, gave her a helpless look and rose, moving to let her out. Tsunade scooted over and made to stand up, only to be blocked by Naruto. She quirked a brow. "Look, brat. I don't have time for this, and this conversation has put me in a foul mood. If you want to walk away from this place with every bone intact, I suggest you get the hell out of my way."

Naruto folded his arms and stood stock-still.

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. With a grim smile, she reached out and patted Naruto on the shoulder. "Kid, you've got a lot of nerve. I admire that." Then her hand gripped him, and the blond could only watch as the world tumbled. He felt his body slam into – and break through – the wall. He tumbled out into the street.

Traffic stopped and people stared open-mouthed at the boy that lay in the street. Then their eyes traced his path and saw a blonde woman dusting her hands off. As the remainder of the party rose to go check on the boy, the other two exited through the hole in the wall. The owner of the restaurant was too dumbfounded, and perhaps a little too terrified, to call after them.

However, even as Jiraiya and Kakashi reached Naruto, the boy was pushing himself up, groaning. "That hurt a lot." However, he managed to stagger to his feet, and glared at Tsunade's retreating form. "Hey, old hag! Where the hell do you think you're going?!" He took a certain pride in watching as she stopped and turned to him. He felt her menace wash over him, and it took a lot of his control not to tense up under the sheer pressure she exuded.

"Brat. You have a death wish, don't you?" Tsunade began to crack her knuckles one at a time. "Nobody, _nobody_, calls me an old hag and gets away with it."

"I call it as I see it. I should also add coward and bitch to the list while I'm at it." He growled. He knew he was being petulant at this point, and likely signing his own death warrant, but she was pissing him off.

Even Tsunade paused. She was used to the words, of course. She had heard them quite often in her years. Running from debtors (less because she was scared and more because she lacked the patience needed to fight through hordes of pathetic chuunin and yakuza trying to collect from her), ruining tables due to failing to restrain her strength in particularly long stretches of bad luck, she had heard a lot of it.

She had never heard the words spoken with such vindication. At least, not by someone she had never actually met before. Her fury began to bubble over. Stomp by stomp she made her way toward Naruto. Her progress was only impeded once, and that was by Shizune, who desperately attempted to calm her down. It failed, and her companion knew to get out of the way.

"I'll give you one thing though." That made Tsunade stop; the boy's tone sounded a little off. "I can understand you not wanting to risk your life for Konoha. I'm in a similar situation. I'm supposed to risk my life for a village I can't really remember? I may have been born in Konoha, but it isn't my home. When I came back, I could remember maybe five people in the entire village." Naruto shook his head. "No, Konoha isn't my home. And I'm not ready to put my life on the line for it. Not yet."

Then, much to her surprise, he took a step forward to meet her. "But that crap about the old man deserving to die? He was one of the few who ever talked to me longer than thirty seconds. He was the one who gave me the choice and ability to become who I am today. I owe who I am to him more than anyone. And I will _not_ allow you to dishonor his memory!" He took another step forward and stomped his left foot down, adopting a fighting stance. "I am Sakurazuka Naruto. Come, if you dare."

Tsunade had to resist the urge to laugh. This brat, standing in the middle of the street, was challenging _her_, Senju Tsunade, to a fight, and demanding that she attack him if she was brave enough? This was too rich. She took one step forward, then another. _Time for a little stress relief._

---

A roar disturbed the forest on the edge of the small village. Sakurazuka Naruto, battered, beaten, and furious, punched a tree in anger. "Dammit. I couldn't do anything! I should be stronger than this!" He let his arm fall to his side and groaned. He was hurting a lot, but knew that going back to the others in his mood would only lead to him starting another fight entirely on accident. He'd eventually decided to just go and burn steam while getting the red silk grass he needed for Kiba's poultice.

As he attempted to direct his attention from obsessing over the events of the previous hour to looking for the herbs, he finally noticed that he wasn't alone. A rather surprised-looking figure, knelt over a few herbs, was giving the boy a rather hesitant look. And Naruto knew why; he was rather busted up, and part of his hair was crusted in dried vomit. So the blond smiled awkwardly to break the ice. "Sorry. Just dealing with personal issues."

"Aha." The figure nodded. Naruto came a little closer, and managed to fill in more details. A young, feminine face concentrated on the herbs, and he caught the barest traces of humming. He slowly walked over, and when the figure made no effort to dissuade him, he knelt.

"Oh, hey. Costus herbs." The figure turned to him in some surprise, and Naruto grinned. "I learned a decent bit about herbs in medicine from people I knew. I'm actually out here looking for some red silk grass for a friend's leg. He screwed it up pretty bad during a training exercise and knowing him, he'll want to get back up on it as soon as possible."

The figure chuckled and nodded, and Naruto finally concluded to himself. Despite the appearance, this person definitely had to be male. He stuck his hand out. "Sakurazuka Naruto, at your service."

After a moment's hesitation, his companion accepted the shake. He looked up at Naruto and smiled. "Haku. My name is Haku."

"Oh, a nice name." Naruto grinned. "Well, Haku, how about a trade? If I help you with all the herbs you need, you help me find some red silk grass?"

Haku nodded thoughtfully. "Sounds fair. I have to warn you though, my list is pretty lengthy." When Naruto simply waved his comments away, he smiled. "All right then. Suit yourself. I'll help you find the red silk grass when we're done."

The two set about collecting a variety of herbs; Saw Palmetto, Echinacea, and even white peony roots, which earned Haku an odd look from Naruto. Finally, the blond managed to gather up the courage. "So, uh, who are these herbs for anyways?"

"Hm?" Haku looked over at Naruto and smiled. "Oh, they're for a good friend of mine. He was hurt recently, and these are to take care of the pain and any infections he may have." When Naruto gestured to the white peony roots with a quirked brow, he blushed. "It's muscle relaxant."

Naruto caught that lie, but decided not to call him on it. The guy was fairly obviously into appearing feminine, so it made sense that he'd want the roots. A little strange, but then, Naruto had two other conscious beings living inside him, so he ranked high up there as well.

They finally managed to finish up Haku's list, and began to hunt through the forest for the red silk grass. After a few minutes of silence, Haku broached the subject. "You know, when you first found me, you seemed pretty angry about something. I hate to pry, but if you've calmed down and want to talk about it, well, I'm interested."

Naruto hummed thoughtfully as he glanced around. "Well. To put it simply, I lost a fight. Really badly. Couldn't even touch my opponent. And after all the crap that I said, I just feel like my words meant nothing in the long run. It…ugh." He clenched his fists. "Sorry. She said some things that I didn't take too kindly, and as a result I'm a little strung out about it. Sannin or no, that was embarrassing…"

Haku paused and stared at the boy. "Wait. You fought Tsunade of the Sannin?" _And you're still able to stand and talk about it afterward?_

Naruto blinked. "Yeah. How do you know about her?"

Haku swore mentally. "Are you kidding? Even civilians know about the Sannin. They're the stuff of legends. I mean, you don't fight Hanzo the Salamander to a standstill and not get recognized everywhere you go. I didn't realize they were here." Then the boy frowned. "What on earth did she say that made you want to fight her at all?"

Naruto scowled. "She insulted the memory of someone I hold dear. I wanted to set her right."

"So you fought one of the strongest kunoichi in the world because of that?" Haku tilted his head. Zabuza had not taught anything like that. You picked your fights and you picked them well. Fighting such an uphill battle for sentimental reasons was a little strange to him.

"Kinda." Naruto smiled grimly. "Looking back, I never stood a chance, but I'm pretending that I gave as good as I got. I just wanted to make sure that she knew that saying that kind of stuff about the old man wasn't gonna fly."

---

Tsunade was running at him. Naruto grabbed at an ofuda, softly whispering the incantation. He had maybe three seconds, and would be cutting it close even with that. He finished the spell just as she reached him, his voice having risen to a cry. Then, her motion stopped entirely before him, as his will, the manifold roots, held her in place.

Tsunade inhaled sharply as roots tore up through the ground to grapple her, freezing her forward charge. _Mokuton? Impossible! Nobody but grandfather ever…_ She ground her teeth together, and summoned up her strength.

Naruto's jaw dropped. He was used to his illusions failing. He was inexperienced, it wasn't really expected of him to have constant long-lasting, or even positive results, and his success rate during his training had actually been astonishingly high. But that wasn't what was happening in front of him. He watched as, through sheer belief in her own strength, she overpowered the grasping roots. That was _bad_. So Naruto stepped forward, and drove a strong fist into her stomach. And then cried out in pain. It was like he had punched steel.

"Did you really think I wasn't going to reinforce the obvious spots, brat?" She grinned malevolently. Her arms flexed, and the surety of her strength shattered the illusion. She looked at her arms, then back at Naruto. "An illusion? Hey, not bad, brat. Unfortunately, you reminded me of someone I didn't want to think about." She raised her hand to strike him, but was interrupted. There was a dull sound of impact, and her body jumped a little before she sank to her knees as her mind attempted to translate the sensation of pain and discomfort she was feeling.

Naruto looked down at her, and smiled cheekily. "Not _every_ obvious spot, apparently." Then he was turning, pivoting on his left foot. His right leg, bent and coiled, unwound, driving his foot into her collarbone with all the force he could muster.

Tsunade flew back a few yards. Naruto held his breath for a moment, exhaling when he saw her stir. It had been a calculated risk to strike near her neck, especially with her so disoriented, but irritation and anger had driven him to take that risk. "Come on. I thought you were supposed to be a big deal. Don't know why they'd want _you_ for a Hokage if this is all you can do."

Her head rose and she glared at him, and Naruto froze. He was used to killing intent and the pressure of presence. They rarely gave him pause anymore, in part because of _prana-bindu_, in part because of simple experience. He was not used to the feeling she was giving off. If he had to pin it…fury? Maybe that first kick hadn't been an excellent idea.

She disappeared, and it was only through sheer will that Naruto managed to unlock his body, pivoting to catch her kick in a cross guard. He gave a weak cry when the kick nearly broke his arms, the force knocking his arm into his face and drawing blood from his nose and throwing him down the street. He was back on his feet before his momentum had halted, sliding the last few feet to a stop. _Okay. Blocking is a _bad idea.

He kicked off to close the ground between them, but his charge was interrupted when she appeared in front of him, kneeling on the ground. She rose in a broad, fast uppercut that would have caught Naruto in the gut had he not thrown himself to the left in time. As it was, the sheer power she swung with made a whip-like crack in the air. Naruto managed to land on his feet, and stared at her in consternation. "What the hell _are_ you?"

"I'm _pissed._" Tsunade replied. Then she was moving again. Naruto drew another charm, beginning another incantation, dodging her wild swings. From a purely technical standpoint, her form was atrocious; Naruto spotted several openings he could have exploited during her assault. However, on a purely instinctual level, she was terrifying, and her massive strength and polished speed meant that she didn't even need to score a direct hit to deal damage. As much as he wanted to break open her form, she simply recovered too fast for him to be able to get away unpunished.

So he had to make his own opening. He finished, and in his mind's eye he watched as the roots grabbed at her again. She smirked. "I've already broken this once, brat. I can do it again." She lunged, and shock passed across her face when it held.

"Don't assume every illusion is the same," Naruto intoned, and then drove his open right palm against her abdomen, and kept it there. He grabbed her extended arm with his left and turned, hauling her over his shoulder, using his right arm for additional leverage. She landed harshly a few feet away, and the illusion broke. She was up on her feet instantly, ready to defend from another assault. Naruto, however, sank into a loose stance that kept his options for movement open.

She stepped in, Naruto stepped back. Two steps forward, two steps back. His eyes analyzed her for any sign of movement, saw her tense, but could not react in time. She dashed in, her arm shooting up in a short uppercut. Naruto bent backward, the fist coming up just in front of his face. He smirked, preparing to step in and lay into her after her missed swing.

Then he noticed that his foot wasn't moving. More than that, his legs weren't following any commands. _Wait, that uppercut, did she-_

"Did she hit my jaw?" His eyes darted to where Tsunade was standing, smirking in triumph. "That's what you're thinking, right? I hit the tip of your jaw, just barely, but enough to short out your ability to control your legs by knocking your brain around. Hard to do unless you're lucky, or you know the body as well as I do. You fought well, brat. But not well enough."

Naruto barely saw the punch coming, testament to its speed. His legs still refused to move; even as he tried to twist out of the way, he knew it was pointless. He grunted as it caught him in the stomach, and his mind understood instinctively that it was over. She reached up and grabbed him by the shoulders, and spun, hurling him a long ways down the street with a decent measure of strength. Even as he hit the ground and began to roll, bile was rising from his throat. He barely managed to push himself up onto his arms as he vomited.

"You're not too bad, runt. Better than some chuunin I've fought, I'll tell you that much. But you're not good enough, not to give me a run for my money. You'd better get yourself looked at. " Tsunade called out to him, then turned away, and began to stride off. "Shizune, come. Jiraiya, I'll see you later, I imagine."

"Yeah, sure." Jiraiya commented, then began walking toward Naruto. The blond glared after Tsunade's back weakly, but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Then his arms gave out. Kakashi and Jiraiya both rushed forward, and eased him upright. Jiraiya was a little surprised to find that Naruto was crying. Despite the situation, the Toad Sage smiled a little. _It was surprisingly easy to forget that he's still just a kid._ He reached out and patted Naruto's head. "Let it out."

The trio sat in the middle of the battered street for five minutes as Naruto cried, damning "that old hag" and "the old man" in between sniffles. When he finally calmed down enough, Jiraiya sat next to him and looked up at the afternoon sky. "You know, she's really not that bad a person. She drew a bad hand in life, and has been dealing with the fallout ever since."

"I don't care." Naruto said glumly.

Jiraiya chuckled and continued. "Give me a few days to work on her. I'm really no good at leading anyone. Her, though…" His gaze turned slightly lecherous. "She could lead me anywhere." He glanced over at Naruto and Kakashi, who gave him blank and horrified looks respectively. He cleared his throat. "She's good at inspiring confidence and isn't the type of person to back down at all when she really gets into it. Like I said, give me a few days."

"Well, the construction is moving along, so we'll have another week or two. No telling when Zabuza will make another move though." Kakashi mused.

"Oh? Zabuza, the Devil of the Mist? You certainly make big enemies, Kakashi. I'd be careful, if I were you." Jiraiya teased.

"Yeah." Kakashi nodded. "I've been doing workouts ever since. Everyone on the team has, with the exception of this guy." The Copy-Nin dropped his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "He hasn't participated in any of our exercises, he either watches or does his own thing."

Naruto scowled and batted Kakashi's hand off, which caused Jiraiya to grin. "That's because you're teaching them stuff that I have no idea about. Stuff I'll probably never actually use."

"Oi. You have to learn some of that stuff if you plan on being a ninja."

"That's what you think. My onmyoujutsu is more than enough." Naruto grumbled.

Jiraiya blinked and looked at Kakashi. "Onmyoujutsu? What the hell are they teaching in Konoha these days?"

"I didn't learn anything in Konoha. Weren't you paying attention?" Naruto stood up and turned to face Jiraiya. "I'm the Sakurazukamori. Sakurazuka Naruto. Tell that old hag that if she wants to fight, she's welcome anytime. I'll get strong, and then I'll drag her back unconscious if I have to. She'll pay penance to the old man by following in his footsteps."

Jiraiya outright laughed. "Sure, kid. I'll tell her."

Naruto nodded, and turned to walk away. Kakashi called after him. "Oi, where are you going?"

"To find the herbs for Kiba's poultice. I'll be back before sunset."

---

Naruto blanched at the memory, only to realize that Haku was staring at him, and that he had not said a word in the last minute or so. He summarized the events briefly, and Haku nodded. They finally reached a patch of red silk grass and knelt, then began to collect it.

"That's some story." Haku smiled. "That you went through all of that just for the memory of someone is pretty impressive. Was he that important to you?" At Naruto's nod, Haku hummed thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose I can understand that. But I mean, if he's gone, what are you making yourself stronger for?"

Naruto paused in his work. "I don't know." He finally admitted. "I mean, there's a lot of work I have to do as part of my inherited position, but I don't know if that really qualifies as a reason."

Haku frowned. "Don't you have anyone precious to you? That you would do anything to protect?"

The blond nodded. "Several hundred, actually, but I don't live with them anymore."

Haku's arms dropped to his side as he stared at Naruto, who had resumed pulling the grass out. "You…don't? Were they killed?" The thought that he would leave those people behind otherwise was alien.

"No. It was a…I guess kind of a self-imposed exile. I learned everything I needed to learn, and had to move on."

"How could you leave them?" Haku began to tremble slightly. Even the thought of leaving Zabuza's service was terrifying.

"I had no real choice. I'd have loved to stay. But I know now that if I had, I'd never go anywhere. I would stagnate. And in my line of work, that's not really acceptable."

"Ninja don't really travel that often outside of missions." Haku had to interject.

"Oh. I'm not really a ninja." Naruto gestured to his forehead, and Haku finally seemed to register the lack of the protector with some surprise. "I'm…it's difficult to explain. Nevermind."

Silence fell on them again as they continued to work. Then, Naruto finally spoke up. "So how about you, Haku? Do you have a precious person?"

Haku nodded fervently. "Oh yes. He's taken care of me for a long time. I've tried my best to be useful and to further his cause, and I think it's because he's there for me that I can be as strong as I am."

Naruto hummed. "I suppose that's admirable. Don't you think you'd be even stronger if you built that strength around yourself though? Basing the pillar of your strength on something as unstable as someone else's life seems risky. If something happened to-"

"Nothing will ever happen to him!" Haku glared at Naruto, who seemed rather taken back. "Nothing will ever happen to him. If anyone ever tries to kill him…I'll kill them!" Naruto blinked, rather surprised by the look in Haku's eyes. They were similar to his. Haku had killed before.

Slowly, the young onmyouji nodded. "I believe you."

"Oh, there you are, Naruto." Kakashi's voice came into the clearing.

Naruto watched, perplexedly, as Haku suddenly sank, before his knees gave out and sent him to the ground. Setting his collection of red silk grass down, he jogged over to Haku, and helped the boy back up onto his feet. "Kakashi. I told you I'd be back this evening. What's the deal?"

"We're having a meeting, and we need you there to discuss – who's your friend?" As Kakashi himself came into the small clearing, he saw Haku, and waved in greeting, getting a hesitant wave in return.

"This is Haku. He helped me gather the red silk grass for Kiba." At the reminder, Haku unslung the pouch containing his share and handed it to Naruto. Grinning, Naruto accepted it, and stuffed the remaining grass into the pouch. "When I get back, while we're having the meeting I can get to making it. Kiba should be good as new inside a day."

"Good to hear. We should get going then. Haku, it was nice to meet you."

"…nice to meet you too, sir." Haku responded hesitantly.

Kakashi frowned underneath the mask, tilting his head lightly and looking at Haku. The boy seemed to tense up slightly, and then Kakashi turned around and began to walk off. Naruto began to follow. As he reached the clearing, he turned to Haku. "Hey, this was fun. Maybe if you're free in two days we can meet in the village?"

"Eh?" Haku blinked. "Me?"

"Yeah. We can talk some more. I think it'd be fun." Naruto grinned.

Haku couldn't restrain a smile. The boy's enthusiasm was infectious. "I'll see what I can do."

Naruto waved, then turned and jogged to catch up to Kakashi.

---

"Where were you?" Haku's head snapped to the right as Zabuza spoke. Having just gotten back, Haku had hoped to get dinner started before waking Zabuza. That was impossible now.

"I was out collecting some things while you were asleep, I didn't want to wake you." Haku turned to look at the missing-nin. He was still pretty banged up from the fight with Kakashi and the Konoha genin. Haku hadn't been lying entirely about the white peony roots; the muscle relaxants were almost necessary for Zabuza at this point in his recovery. Another week or so and the man would be back on his feet, but until then… "I actually managed to get enough supplies to last us until you're as good as new. Took the help of a boy though."

"Oh? Is Haku finally showing interest in boys?" Haku could hear the grin Zabuza wore in the smugness of his voice. "Do I finally get to be an overprotective dad?"

"This boy happens to be the same blond child that you fought against a few days ago." Haku had to restrain the grin as the older man tensed slightly. She waved her hand to calm him down. "Relax. He didn't recognize me. Our secret is safe, for the time being. I was a little worried when Kakashi showed up though. I kind of reacted to his voice, but passed it off as a collapse. I don't think Naruto-kun caught it, and Kakashi didn't seem to register me as a threat."

"Tch. Well, as long as they don't see you enough to piece together that you were the Hunter-nin who got me away from them, it'll be fine." Zabuza rolled his neck back to stare at the ceiling.

"…that may be difficult. I kind of promised Naruto I would meet him in town in two days."

Zabuza blinked. "Did you agree on a _date_ with a kid who can't be more than _thirteen_?"

"It's not a date!" Haku frowned. "It's…nevermind." She chose to ignore Zabuza's retort as she set the basket of herbs down and began to sift through the pantries of their (temporary, stolen) home in search of something to cook. "Anyways. Thanks to Naruto-kun, I've learned some interesting news. Were you aware that Jiraiya and Tsunade of the Sannin are in town?"

Zabuza looked at her. "_Really_? Are they here on a mission?"

Haku shook her head. "Near as I could glean from what Naruto told me, they're not affiliated with Konoha anymore. We shouldn't have too much to worry about as long as we don't provoke them." Gathering several ingredients, she began to dice vegetables, taking some of the herbs out to be prepared in Zabuza's portion.

"Wow. The Sannin, here. I know it sounds strange coming from me, but I'm a little disappointed they're not here on business. Fighting one of them…honestly sounds like a lot of fun."

Haku gave him a strange look. "You can't be serious. That's practically suicide! We've all heard the stories. It took a man on Kage level to be able to fight off all three of them at the same time, and they've only had opportunities to get stronger since then. Even fighting one of them, especially in your condition, is ludicrous." She was appalled. Zabuza was usually far more restrained than this. Was there something in the herbs that was affecting him that she hadn't counted on? An adverse reaction? Or… "Zabuza-sama, I told you not to get into the cannabis!"

"Watch your tongue, girl." Zabuza growled. Haku's body tensed immediately as pure, unmitigated killing intent flooded over her. "You're overstepping your place." He turned his head away, and after a few seconds he heard the chopping resume. "You're certainly energetic today. Is love in the air?" He sneered. "Fraternizing with the enemy? Did something else happen in the forest that I should be aware of?"

He would have continued, but for her response. "No sir." Haku said softly, her head bowed. Zabuza sighed and closed his mouth. He wouldn't apologize, because he wasn't really sorry. But he would at least give her a minor reprieve.

The house was filled with the soft noises of Haku's cooking. After a time, she set the meal down before Zabuza, and then rose to leave. "Where are you going?"

"I…"

"Eat. In here, for once."

Haku turned to face him, a trembling smile on her face. She nodded. "Yes, Zabuza-sama." She grabbed her own meal and sat down on the floor across from Zabuza and began to eat.

Zabuza watched her for a moment and then tore into his meal with a voracity born of extreme hunger. It was a moment of peace and quiet for the family of two.

---

Naruto finally stepped into the old man's house. He felt incredibly sore, both from his earlier beating, and from the workout he had forced himself through alongside Team 7. Kakashi had been putting them through various teamwork-building exercises, and Naruto had to admit that he was fairly impressed with the coordination they were showing, even if they still had several personality issues to work around.

"You look like shit." A blunt statement from his right. Naruto looked over lazily, and saw the runt of the family standing there – Inari, if Naruto recalled. His arms were crossed and he bore a look of mild disgust. "Seriously, what are you even working yourself this hard for? It's pointless, you know."

"I'm sure as hell not working this hard for you. Most of this comes from fighting with someone who outclassed me severely." Naruto growled. The last thing he needed was to be dealing with some ungrateful little brat. Seriously, people were risking their lives and he acted like _this_? God help the person who actually saved his life, they'd never hear the end of it.

"You really are dumb. Fighting all these battles you can't win. We're screwed. You guys should just pack up and go ho-" Inari was cut off as Naruto shoved him against the wall. "Hey! Get off me!" He began to struggle, but was unable to dislodge Naruto. "I said get off!"

"Now who's fighting a battle he can't win? Shouldn't you just give up and accept the fact that I'm stronger than you?"

"You're…you're hurting me!" Inari grunted in pain. Naruto withdrew his arm, and the boy collapsed on the ground, glaring up at Naruto with teary eyes. "What the hell was that for?!"

"That was for insulting the work that everyone's been doing. Everyone works so hard and you sit here and say that it's pointless? You're weak." Naruto stared down at Inari. "You want to give up without a fight on the off-chance that it'll hurt less. I can understand that. People dislike pain, and go to great lengths to avoid it. But confronting people like Gato, even if it means pain and death? That's what makes these people strong. And that's what makes you a kid."

"Sh-shut up!" Inari snarled. "You're only saying that because you don't know what Gato's done here! He's already killed people, and he's going to do it again! You'll die if you stay!"

Naruto looked down at him, and then sighed and shook his head. "Nevermind." Then he turned and walked away.

In the kitchen, he found Tsunami, who was dutifully working on preparing dinner. He sat down at the table, and grabbed one of the prepared ice packs – he had been surprised at how quickly the lady of the house adapted to having such needy guests around and what those needs were – to apply to his stomach. He winced tenderly.

"You should give him a break, you know." Tsunami said softly. "Gato…he killed someone important to Inari."

"He's not the only one who's had someone close to him die." Naruto responded. "I've lost important people too."

"Yes, but Inari is, well, too much my son, I think. I was seeing a man. Not Inari's father, but he might as well have been. He taught Inari well. And I think Inari would be stronger if not for the fact that he died opposing Gato."

"Strength based on someone else is bound to fail. If he wants strength, he should find it for himself."

"Is that what you've learned, Naruto-san?"

"Yes."

"You must live such a lonely life." Tsunami said at last.

Naruto was taken back. And then, after a moment thinking on it, he nodded slowly. "You're probably right." He glanced back into the hall where he'd come from. "Inari." Guiltily, the boy appeared in the doorway. "Want to know why I fought that person?"

Inari blinked, and then hesitantly walked over to the table and sat down across from Naruto.

"She insulted the memory of a person I loved a lot. He was probably the closest thing to a father, or grandfather, that I ever had when I was really small. I never want to hear anyone say anything bad about him. So I fought her. Even though I never stood a chance of winning, as long as I could protect my memories, it was fine. As long as I could fight for the old man, it was fine." Naruto smiled lightly. "The guy your mom talked about, sounds like he's someone you want to remember for a long time too. Right?"

Inari nodded fervently.

"Then you should pick up where he left off. I'm sure that the old man would want me to do the same." Naruto snorted. "Listen to me. I sound like a cartoon character." Despite himself, Inari couldn't help but laugh. And Naruto soon joined him.

For several minutes, the kitchen was filled with the sound of both of them laughing at a joke that wasn't really funny.

Tsunami simply smiled and continued to cook.

---

"Shizune." The dark-haired woman looked up from her meal abruptly. She had been on-edge since the fight earlier that day, and the fact that Tsunade was (generally) an angry drunk who was currently downing bottle after bottle of alcohol was not helping. She wasn't in any immediate danger, but the establishment and customers certainly were.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama?" She kept her tone neutral as best she could.

"Have I ever told you about my grandfather?"

Shizune had to pause and think. Tsunade rarely ever talked about her family, but when she did, it was usually about Nawaki, or maybe her mother. "No, I don't think you have."

"He was…strong." The odd timbre in Tsunade's voice made Shizune focus on her teacher. "Nobody was stronger. But he'd always pass it off, saying that he cheated by using stuff that was already there. Everyone knew though. Nobody fought him, except for great-uncle Tobi." She smiled bitterly. "I was ten when he died. The worst thing? It wasn't even a fight that took his life. It was some stupid infection from some war he couldn't even remember that had taken decades to kill him."

Shizune blinked. "Tsunade-sama…"

"I was heartbroken. Grandfather was dead. No glorious last stand, just some stupid slow death. What an insipid way for a Hokage to go out." Tsunade scowled. "I never wanted that to happen again."

Shizune nodded slowly. Things were starting to make sense. "So you eventually…" Her voice trailed off. She knew where this was going. She knew all-too-well how her uncle and teacher had been connected.

Her eyebrow twitched. _Far_ too well.

"Yeah. I proposed the medic-nin as a step toward preventing that." The busty woman nodded. "That, and mandatory checkups after battles and missions. It's a shame they never listened."

"Tsunade-sama, I-"

"That brat. Naruto, wasn't it? He reminded me of grandfather during the fight. I guess it was an illusion, but for a moment I was so certain that he had used grandfather's techniques." Tsunade leaned back in her seat and stared up at the ceiling swirling the sake bottle. "It scared me, but it also reminded me of him. Do you remember the Will of Fire bullshit Sarutobi used to spout all the time?"

Shizune shook her head. "No, I don't. I think we left before I enrolled in the academy proper."

Tsunade laughed. "Consider yourself lucky. The man was a second father to me, but if you ever got him started on Konoha, he wouldn't stop for at least an hour. It was always Jiraiya who would irritate him into one of those lectures too. But the whole Will of Fire, grandfather founded Konoha on those principles. My father used to joke that the Will of Fire, rather than grandfather's Mokuton, was the Senju's special technique." She barked a humorless laugh. "I always thought that it skipped my generation."

Shizune tilted her head curiously. "You thought?"

"I need a drink." Tsunade set the empty sake bottle down. "Mind getting me a refill, Shizune?" She handed it over to her apprentice. Shizune gave her a skeptical look, before sighing and rising to go get the bottle refilled. Pressing her forehead into her cupped palms, Tsunade couldn't help but smile bitterly. "Maybe I thought wrong."

---

"Haku! Hey!" The young woman looked up when she heard her name being called. A smile bloomed when she saw Naruto running full tilt at her. In fact, perhaps a little too full-tilt; recognizing that he wasn't going to be able to stop, she stepped aside, a little too slow. Naruto snagged her foot with his own and went down.

With an abbreviated laugh and a concerned look, she knelt next to the boy, who was whimpering in pain. However, as quickly as he fell, he was back up on his feet, and tugging on her hand. "Come on, come on! Let's have fun!"

Haku blinked, stumbling the first few steps. Naruto was a veritable bundle of energy, not at all like he had been two days earlier. She had to smile; it was rather endearing seeing him so happy. She caught herself and followed after him. "So what did you have in mind?"

"I dunno. Mostly just wandering around, I guess. We didn't get to look too much, and this place is pretty big. You know any good places?" Naruto paused, and turned around and around, humming as he looked in every direction.

Haku thought to herself. No, she didn't know any good places, because she rarely ever came into the town proper. But she couldn't really say that, not if she wanted to keep him from figuring her out. What did she know about Nam-

"Oh! We can go to all those weapon shops! There was stuff that looked cool there!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed, and was on the move again, hauling her along by the arm.

This time, Haku couldn't restrain her laughter, and Naruto joined in. They were soon walking along Killer's Street. Naruto peeked into every shop, testing out various items. He eventually found a heavily stylized kaiken, the sheathe engraved with a famous haiku about sakura flowers in war. "Oh no. No, no."

Haku blinked. "What's the matter?"

"I can't buy this. If I buy this, I'm going to go overboard. It will never leave my hands for at least a month. I can't." And yet, even as he protested, his hand itched toward his wallet.

She smiled. "What if I were to buy it and just conveniently forget it?"

Naruto gave her a look that was both betrayed and hopeful. "I couldn't allow that."

Silence seemed to settle between them, and Naruto could swear that he heard someone whistle a few high notes before dropping to a low tone. Haku twitched and Naruto was already grabbing his wallet and throwing down the money to pay for it.

She pouted, and he smiled. "Look, I couldn't let you pay for it. And I did want it, so…" He grabbed the kaiken, and drew the blade, looking at it joyously. "I'll use you a lot, I promise." Haku couldn't help but laugh as he nuzzled the hilt affectionately before sheathing it and stowing it in his obi.

"Do you even know how to use a kaiken, Naruto-san?" She finally asked.

"Well, I know how to use blades about the same size. It was about all that Mitsuomi-sensei would let me learn. Was never as good with them as I was at Hakkyokuken, though." He smiled, in embarrassment and at the fond memories that his instruction recalled.

Haku paused. "Hakkyokuken…Eight Extremes Fist? That's kind of an archaic martial art, isn't it?"

Naruto grinned, and Haku had to repress the urge to shudder at the carnivorous hints that lay underneath the gesture. "I learned the Eight Infinities Palm. There's a difference, believe me."

Feeling a small coil of dread settle itself in her stomach, she nodded. "I do."

Then he was dragging her off again. "Naruto-san, wait, can we just rest a moment?!"

She didn't pay attention to the flash of blonde as Naruto hauled her down the road.

---

The sun was beginning to touch the tree-line when they finally sat down for dinner at a restaurant. Haku thanked whatever gods were listening for the reprieve. She hadn't counted on Naruto being so active constantly. _Where does he get it all from?_ She stole glances at him as she analyzed the menu; he didn't notice, being so intent on selecting his meal. She shook her head and smiled.

Their orders were taken. They had just received their drinks when a boisterous voice called over. "Why, if it isn't the brat!" Naruto twitched, and slowly turned his head. Now standing by the table were two women. Haku tilted her head curiously.

"Oi. Old hag. What do you want?" Naruto glared half-heartedly at her. The blonde woman rapped her knuckles on his head. "Ow."

"That's no way to talk to a woman. Oh, but I suppose you're annoyed because I'm interrupting your date, right?" She smiled. Haku had to restrain the urge to blush.

Naruto did no such thing. He pointed at Haku and managed to stammer out "Wait, no, Haku's a guy! We're not on a date!"

The woman turned an appraising eye on Haku, and she felt a sinking feeling in her gut about who this woman was. "I see. A guy? Well, my apologies then, Haku-san." She smiled, and managed to conceal any sign of distrust, which Haku found rather admirable. The woman extended her hand. "Tsunade. My friend here is Shizune."

_Oh fuck me._ Haku smiled sweetly. "It's not a problem. I get that response a lot." She did her best to avoid shifting uncomfortably under the Sannin's gaze. It was very hard not to. _Please just go away._

"Would you two mind scooting over? I mean, since we're here, might as well eat together."

_Double fuck me._ Haku began to move over. Shizune sat next to her, and Naruto likewise moved over, allowing Tsunade to take a seat next to him.

"So, old hag, what are you doing here?"

"Hey." Tsunade rapped Naruto on the forehead with her knuckles again. "I told you, that's no way to talk to a woman. Anyways, I finished my gambling run for the day, and decided to come get a bite to eat. Didn't expect to run into you at all."

Haku was flabbergasted. _Please tell me he's not gullible enough to actually fall for that._ It was fairly obvious, in hindsight, now that Haku thought it about it, that they had been tailed. She kicked herself mentally for not noticing before; of course a Sannin would be good at redirecting attention when it came down to it.

"Oh, I see." Naruto nodded in understanding. Haku barely managed to resist planting her forehead in her palm. "Did Jiraiya pass along my message?"

"Yeah, he did." Tsunade responded amiably. "It's an interesting proposition. So what do you say we turn it into a wager?"

"A wager?" Naruto tilted his head. "What did you have in mind?"

"Jiraiya mentioned that you were protecting a bridge builder, and things got a little hairy. You manage to kill the guy trying to off the bridge builder, I'll agree to your demands. Anyone else gets the kill, you become my servant."

Haku started, and her knee bumped into Shizune's. She apologized with a weak chuckle, and went back to staring at the table. _Zabuza-sama…_

"I refuse." Three pairs of eyes turned to Naruto, who was fixated on Tsunade.

"Oh? You're going to give up your mission that fast?" Tsunade snorted. "I thought you were supposed to be dedicated."

"Dedication has nothing to do with it. You're making a bet on someone's life. That's sick." He shook his head. "If those're the only terms you're offering, I want nothing to do with it."

Tsunade paused for a moment, and then smiled. She reached out and ruffled the boy's hair. "You sure are stubborn, for a brat. All right, fine. Show me something worthwhile, and I'll give you this." She tugged on her necklace.

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune gasped.

"A necklace?" Naruto blinked, and tilted his head. "I don't see what's so important about that."

"This necklace belonged to the First Hokage. My grandfather." Tsunade spoke softly. Naruto frowned.

"If it's something like that, why would you give it to me? I mean, placing something like that on a bet is…"

"You remind me of someone I knew a long time ago." Tsunade smiled weakly. "He was every bit as stubborn and headstrong as you were. He had a lot of power, too, and used it to protect everyone in Konoha. I know that you've said that you can't consider Konoha your home. But maybe, maybe if you're always carrying around a little piece of it with you, you'll start to understand. What it meant to him, and what it meant to all of the Hokages."

Naruto stared up at her for a long moment. And then he nodded. "I accept then. I'll give you a hell of a show."

The tense mood that hung over the table gradually began to lift, and by the time everyone had their food, they were chatting fairly animatedly about various things. Even Haku began to feel a little at home. That thought startled her. She momentarily stopped paying attention to the conversation, turning that thought over in her head. This sense of safety, security, and warmth…even with Zabuza, she'd never felt quite this way. It felt nice.

It scared her with its tempting promise.

"Haku, you okay?" Naruto waved his hand in front of her face.

"Ah? Oh, sorry. I got distracted by something." She smiled.

Eventually, she looked out at the sky and saw that it was very dark. "Oh dear. I think I need to be going."

"Oh?" Tsunade smiled. "Let me walk you out. Shizune, keep Naruto company for a moment." She got up, and Haku felt fear crystallize in her stomach. Shizune got up, and Haku exited, smiling pleasantly at Tsunade, who hooked her arm around Haku's own and led her out. When they got far enough away that only elevated voices would reach the restaurant, Tsunade let go and turned to face Haku. "Listen _very_ carefully to what I'm about to say."

Haku gulped.

"I don't know what game you're trying to play with Naruto. Lying about being male and all of that. But judging by the way you reacted to my first wager with Naruto, you're associated with the man who's actively trying to kill him and his companions. I doubt you have control over your friend, but let me make myself perfectly clear. If you hurt Naruto, either personally or through your friend, I will hunt you down and make your life a living hell. Do we have an understanding?"

Haku nodded rapidly. Tsunade released her arm, and stepped back. Slowly, Haku began to retreat.

"I won't say anything to him. If you want to tell him, that's your prerogative. But keep my warning in mind."

Haku vanished before her eyes, and Tsunade sighed. _Damn brat. You just had to go and revive this "Will of Fire" crap. Sarutobi and grandfather are laughing their asses off right now, I bet._ Then she turned and began to make her way back to the restaurant.

---

"Excellent!" Kakashi voiced his glee as he defended himself from the onslaught. Team 7 plus Akamaru were forcing him to yet another level as part of their coordinated assault. It had taken him a relatively short amount of time to actually determine the layout of his team, and had thus given them exercises designed to play to their roles. He hadn't been surprised to discover that Kiba was the technical fighter; the kid was a wild beast, but Inuzuka taijutsu had a very formulaic approach and Tsume had done a fantastic job teaching her son. Sasuke had been another obvious one. Knowing what he did about the Sharingan, Kakashi had elected to make him the Jack-of-All-Trades of the group; equal parts frontliner, support, and artillery.

No, the real surprise had been Sakura. He'd had his theories after watching her punch out one of the Demon Brothers on the way to Nami no Kuni, but after the tree-climbing exercise where she mastered it in one go, Kakashi had confirmed it. Sakura was a bruiser with a fantastic talent for channeling chakra to the appropriate body part. He knew for a fact that he didn't have the technical expertise required to get the most out of it, so she would need another teacher. He also knew that Gai would hardly protest another student learning Gouken. If she learned the specifics of chakra reinforcement alongside Gouken, Kakashi had no doubt she would be an incredible fighter.

Kakashi ducked underneath a high kick from Kiba, extending his arm to catch the low kick from Akamaru in Beast-Human Clone form. He swung Akamaru's body into the path of a broad swing from Sakura, then let go, using Kiba's body as a shield from Sasuke, who was currently in the back, attempting to locate an opening in the frenzied melee to unleash his kunai or a small Katon jutsu. The boy's eyes, reddened by his active doujutsu, tracked Kakashi's movement and the movements of his teammate with ease, but could not find an opening to exploit. He grunted with irritation and stepped forward.

"Match, Kakashi." Naruto called out from the sidelines. The frenzied melee halted at the announcement, and four heads turning to him in question. The onmyouji gestured at Sasuke's foot, and much to the Uchiha's chagrin, he had, in fact, broken the rules of engagement. He had been ordered not to move unless he was turning to follow the combat, and provide long-range support. The step had declared his intent to close, which signaled the end of the bout.

Kiba collapsed onto the ground, and Akamaru followed suit, the Juujin Bunshin breaking. Akamaru panted, but gave a pleased growl when Kiba reached over and scratched him behind the ears. Sakura placed her hands on her knees and hunched over, trying to catch her breath. Sasuke simply scowled as he walked over. Kiba looked up at him, and the two seemed about ready to come to blows. The last week had put everyone on edge, waiting for Zabuza's inevitable attack, and Kiba and Sasuke's relationship had been strained to the breaking point.

"Sorry." Sasuke said at length.

Kiba blinked. "Huh?"

The Uchiha growled. "I'm sorry. I screwed up. I should have trusted that you guys would have gotten him to a place where I could hit him, but I was too impatient."

The clearing was silent for a moment, and then Kiba laughed. He laughed hard. Sasuke's face darkened in anger and he raised his arm, ready to punch out the dog nin. However, in between laughs, Kiba managed to gasp out "I'm sorry, I just never expected you would apologize. It's not what I expect from you at all." Forcing himself back up onto his feet, Kiba turned to face Sasuke, his grin still present. "Apology accepted. We've both been making stupid mistakes lately. We've got better things to do than fight." He shoved his hand out.

Sasuke paused, momentarily, then smirked and grabbed Kiba's. They shook once, and then dropped their hands back to their sides.

Kakashi smiled. "I think you're truly on your way to becoming Team Seven at last."

Naruto took a moment to glance at the timepiece on his wrist. "It's eight-thirty. Tazuna should be preparing to head out."

The activity in the clearing halted, and the dull weight of the mission set in on them again. After a moment of reflection, a mandatory exercise Kakashi enforced for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was to cool tensions after rough training sessions, the group began to prepare for their daily excursion to the bridge.

On the way out, Naruto was accosted by Inari, who handed him the lunch that had been made for Tazuna. "Oh come on, why do _I_ have to carry it? Ask one of the others, or make the old man do it himself."

Inari smirked. "Not a chance. You'll have to deal with it."

Naruto grumbled in irritation before giving the young boy a gentle shove. "You have that charm I gave you, right?" When Inari nodded, Naruto grinned. "Good. Remember, if you're ever in trouble, just do what I told you, and the charm should help."

Inari smiled. "Got it. Good luck, and keep grampa safe!"

"You got it, kid." Kakashi motioned. "Let's go."

---

"Wha-what happened?!" Tazuna fell to his knees. More than half of the bridge construction crew were littered about the site in varying states of dismemberment. Bodies torn apart in random segments, blood everywhere, it was a gruesome sight. Naruto scowled; Kiba and Sakura looked away in disgust. Tazuna ran forward, and the group hesitantly followed. They caught up with the old man, kneeling beside a coworker who was on the verge of death. "Mimura! Who did this?!"

"It was..." Mimura vomited blood on his chest. "It was a monster." His eyes began to twitch as the pain worsened.

"Stand back." Naruto said, walking over to kneel next to the man. "He's in pain." He fished an ofuda tag from his sleeves, and after a brief chant, pressed it to the man's forehead. Mimura's twitching lessened, and he finally relaxed on the ground. When he looked up at everyone, he smiled weakly. "I've blocked out most of the pain. It will make his passing easier."

"Brat..." Tazuna started.

He was interrupted by the sound of clapping. "At last, the heroes of this farce of a play appear on-stage. So sorry we had to kill the extras, but we don't need anyone stealing the spotlight away from this climax." All gazes turned to the roof of a nearby building, where two figures stood. "And now the denouement can begin. Oh, how I've waited for my chance to get revenge on you little bastards. I don't appreciate having to fight the same enemies twice."

Naruto was hating this setup more and more. Lots of water. The enemy had time to prepare beforehand. God only knew what kind of traps were waiting for them here. Kakashi was of the same mind, but before anyone could suggest a tactical retreat, Zabuza, or rather Zabuzas, were among them.

The four Mizu Bunshins hefted their swords; they were interrupted by fists and a small hail of kunai that dispersed them almost as quickly as they appeared.

"Hoho?" Zabuza jeered. "Looks like the brats have gotten better. Good."

Both figures shimmered and reappeared on the bridge, significantly closer to the group. Naruto looked away from Zabuza to his companion, the same hunter-nin who had taken Zabuza's body away after the first fight. So it had been a ruse. _Clever_.

But something about the way the figure moved was irritating Naruto. He had seen those movements before. Not as pronounced and combative, but...there was no mistaking it. His training in _prana-bindu_ had allowed him to see that no two people ever moved the same, even when they practiced the same thing. This hypersensitivity to motion in the visual spectrum gave Naruto a nifty way of analyzing people for tells. And the tell that this person gave was his identity.

"Haku." He stated evenly, trying to hide the fact that his stomach was churning. The genin trio looked at him quizzically, but Naruto simply stared at the hunter-nin. Hesitantly, the figure reached up and took off its mask, revealing Haku's impassive face. "So this is what it comes down to."

"That's right." Haku responded.

Naruto was silent; Kakashi and Zabuza edged toward each other, the Team 7 genin readied themselves. Then, Naruto raised his arm and pointed at Haku. "You and me."

He saw Haku shifted uncertainly, and crouched. He didn't have it in his mind to give Haku time to think about it; his muscles coiled and then sprang, launching Naruto forward. Kakashi, knowing that Naruto was going to do something reckless, moved with him to engage Zabuza.

"Thirty percent should be enough." Zabuza said aloud, and then flashed through seals. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!" Water leapt from beneath the bridge to congeal into another Zabuza; Kakashi frowned. He didn't want to fight two at once. However, even as he began to work through the seals to form his own, the clone jumped high and long, sailing over Kakashi's head.

Immediately, Kakashi pivoted on his foot, ignoring the pain shooting through his ankle at the sudden momentum reversal, determined to catch the clone before it came into range of his students. Then he ducked as Zabuza's enormous sword cut through the space Kakashi's head had been a moment ago. Kakashi felt a dull impact in his stomach as Zabuza's foot caught him and threw him up, and then gurgled as Zabuza grabbed him by the throat and threw him to the side.

"Can't afford not to pay attention, Kakashi." Zabuza grinned. "Don't worry, I'm sure my clone will kill your brats quickly. It's not all about suffering."


End file.
